2015/05/08 – The Mississippi Department of Education on Friday released statewide results of the third-grade reading assessment, showing how many students from each school face retention due to the state’s new Literacy-Based Promotion Act.

See the results for each elementary school below.

One elementary school alone, McCoy Elementary in Yazoo City, could retain more than 100 third-graders next academic year, the largest number in the state. The rest will retain anywhere between one and six dozen students.

Only a handful of the more than 420 elementary schools had a perfect pass rate.

Statewide, nearly 38,000 students took the Third-Grade Reading Summative Assessment in April. They needed to score a 926 or above to demonstrate grade-level reading ability, thus, advance to the fourth grade.

Scores ranged from 600-1200. The statewide average was 980.

Nearly 15 percent of third graders – or 5,612 children – fell below minimum score, data show.

Children who didn’t pass will repeat the third grade next academic year unless they improve on subsequent tests – they’ll have two chances to retake it – or unless they meet one of several “good cause exemptions,” such as being an English-language learner or having a disability.

Most parents were notified of their child’s individual scores Friday, but some won’t receive the information until next week due to computer problems, MDE said.

Results varied across the state and even within the same school districts. Jackson Public Schools, for example, boasted both some of the best and worst scores among its more than three dozen participating elementary schools.

“As we anticipated, not all of our third graders achieved a passing score on the reading test and we are in the process of identifying those students,” said JPS spokesman Sherwin Johnson in a statement. “Those identified will be retested before a decision is made about their promotion or retention.”

Goodman Pickens Elementary School in Holmes County had the lowest pass rate at 41 percent. Principal Bridgett Wheaton referred comment to the district’s central office, whose officials there hadn’t seen the results yet and therefore couldn’t comment.

Eleven schools had 100 percent pass rates, including McWillie Elementary and Davis Magnet in Jackson.

“We are very excited,” said McWillie Principal Sara Pearson. “Our team has worked very hard to make it happen.”

Pearson credited her students’ success to a dedicated staff and an active parent-teacher association. She also said children received daily encouragement and constant reading exposure.

District-wide, Clay County and Pearl River had perfect pass rates among its third graders. Both districts had just one elementary school each whose students took the test.

Yazoo Municipal School District had the lowest overall pass rate at 47 percent. It, too, had just one elementary school to test. No one at the school or district office was available to comment.

“We knew we would be all over the place with some district performing way better than others,” said Lisa Karmacharya, executive director of the Mississippi Association of School Administrators.

Championed by Gov. Phil Bryant and modeled on similar programs in states like Florida and North Carolina, the Literacy-Based Promotion Act went into effect for the first time this year. It aims to curb the practice of social promotion, wherein children who cannot read or write advance to higher grades simply to keep pace with their peer group.

The law also requires schools to provide intensive reading intervention to children who repeat the third grade because of failing the test. Intervention includes “a minimum of 90 minutes during regular school hours of daily, scientifically research-based reading instruction.”

Already underfunded by the state Legislature, public schools have been scrambling to assemble the resources they need to help these struggling learners. Karmacharya said she’s confident principals and administrators will figure out a way to do it, but others said it will be impossible without more money.

“The state must provide those resources so that our children can be successful,” said Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents’ Campaign. “It’s all well and good to say children don’t got ont o the fourth grade until they’re ready, but saying it isn’t enough. We have to provide them the resources to be successful.”

Statewide Breakdown of Student Scores

37,831 students took the Third-Grade Reading Summative Assessment. 5,612 failed.

Students averaged a score of 980 statewide.

Score | Students | Percentage

600-600 | 0 | 0%

700-799 | 257 | 0.68%

800-899 | 2,903 | 7.67%

900-919 | 1,769 | 4.67%

920-925 | 683 | 1.81%

926-929 | 486 | 1.28%

930-949 | 3,540 | 9.36%

950-999 | 14,074 | 37.20%

1000-1099 | 13,691 | 36.19%

1100-1200 | 428 | 1.13%

Individual School Results in PDF

Source: The Clarion-Ledger 

Emily Le Coz