Three years ago Mississippi’s State Board of Education and Department of Education started to focus on improving student achievement by targeting certain areas that the state’s schools needed to improve on. Three years later success is being shown in those areas around the states thanks to them working with the State Legislature to ensure the funding was available to accomplish their goals. Let’s look at some of those laws that made way for the targeted improvements in the state.
Literacy-Based Promotion Act:-
This law specifically targeted k-3 literacy. It was passed in 2013 and granted 9.5 million the first year, and 15 million the following years. The goal of the act is to raise literacy rates early in the child’s educational career. The 2015 results recently were released, and the return on investment seems very positive.
The ELA passing rate for 3rd graders went from 54% in 2014 to 65% for 2015! Kindergarteners meeting the target for reading went from 54% in 2014 to 63% this year! The results are showing improvement on both ends of the scale that this law targeted.
Early Learning Collaborative Act:-
This law gave funding to set up a comprehensive Pre-K infrastructure to help set young students for success later in their school career. This Act gave 3 million dollars a year for the first three years this law was in effect. The results are very positive as Mississippi was recognized by The National Institute for Early Education Research. The Institute named them among 6 states in the nation that have met all 10 quality Standards for preschool.
Professional Development
The Legislature has given the schools in Mississippi one million dollars a year to invest in professional development for their teachers. The training for educators is directly related to teaching reading and implementing the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards. The independent report by the Southern Regional Education Board reports that the state has strong expectations for professional development.
It should be noted are that according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Mississippi is the only state in the nation that has shown significant improvement since 2013 in 4th-grade math and ELA scores!
The state of Mississippi has invested heavily into their education system. The results have shown that investments in education do raise student achievement. Mississippi is laying the foundation to have a better education platform in place going forward.
Referenced Article: http://www.meridianstar.com/opinion/columns/investment-in-education-raises-student-achievement/article_c70e664c-dd40-502a-9708-e6db00a78432.html
