The Mississippi Board of Education has approved a new five-year, strategic plan that aims to make students across the state more successful in college and the workplace. The new plan seeks growth in every area of education from students to teachers.
The plan which received unanimous support from the Board of Education Friday, consists of five major areas of focus, including increasing the state's low graduation rates and providing access to high-quality early childhood education for every Mississippi student. John Kelly of Gulfport is the Board Chair. He says it's vital for Mississippi's children to improve educational outcomes.
"We all have exactly the same goal which is to strengthen all students in Mississippi so that they can reach their absolute greatest potential," says Kelly. "Quite frankly, if we don't do this we all have failed. We failed our children. We failed our parents."
The strategic plan differs from previous goals set by the Board of Education that sought incremental changes over time. The new plan seeks growth from ALL Mississippi students over a variety of issues. Superintendent of Education Carey Wright says. . .
"I'm not sue that our previous plan was as laser-focused on student achievement," Wright says. "We've got a great accountability system, and how can we use that and the data from that to help drive the instructional program. How do we provide our teacher with the skills that they need. Pre-k is going to get us way ahead of the game in terms of third grade gate. So it's all very much intertwined and linked together."
In order to reach the ultimate goal of improving student success the plan has a number of subsidiary objectives. Among them are calls for continuing to implement Common Core State Educational Standards.
