New Accountability System Will Measure Students On National Level

Mississippi schools are being held to new accountability standards in an attempt boost performance levels. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on the latest aspect of that new system.

On Friday the State Board of Education will approve the growth model portion of the new school accountability system. Currently children in Mississippi schools are only measured against other Mississippi children. This new model will now measure children’s success against a national average. Interim Superintendent of Education John Jordan,

“I think now a days with the talk of national standards and a move towards approving schools across this country we have got to have an accountability model, so that we truly know how the schools that are part of the Mississippi system are doing and how well the children are achieving.”

Later this month the new school accountability labels will be released and 55 schools in the state will be considered failing, that’s something Jordan considers unacceptable,

“That means that children come to school 180 days a year and they are not getting the proper instruction they deserve. That’s what an accountability model is all about, it is about a system so we can make sure that each school in the state of Mississippi is giving the very best education they can.”

All schools will be given one of seven performance classifications ranging from star school to failing under the new accountability system. The Mississippi Board of Education has set the goal of reaching the national average on national assessment tests by 2013.