Q: What do the grades assigned to our local school districts using Mississippi’s statewide accountability system mean?

A: In July, the Mississippi Department of Education released an A through F grade assessment on state school districts for the 2014-15 school year. The Lincoln County School District received a B, while the Brookhaven School District received a D.

Lincoln County was one of the school districts granted a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to compensate for the state transitioning to higher standards of learning. The waiver allows a school to retain the letter grade it received in the 2013-14 school year if the 2014-15 grade was lower as a result of the assessment. Waiver grades are the official grades for 2014-15. But districts won’t be allowed a waiver for the 2015-16 school year results, which will be released by MDE next year.

Brookhaven School District was not affected by the waiver because their score did not change from the previous assessment.

LCSD Superintendent Mickey Myers said that while he believes accountability is important, there are issues with any assessment.

“There is no perfect instrument for assessment,” Myers said. “In some respects, these accountability ratings lack fairness.”

The major issue, Myers said, is that standards are changing at a rapid pace. Mississippi has had three different standards for assessing students over the past three years, and schools have not been given time to adapt.

For the 2014-15 school year, schools were rated on a 900-point scale using nine components:

• Reading proficiency

• Reading growth for all students

• Reading growth for the lowest performing students

• Math proficiency

• Math growth for all students

• Math growth for the lowest performing students

• Science proficiency

• U.S. history proficiency

• Graduation rates

Reading and math proficiency components are worth 100 points each, and directly correspond to a percentage of students receiving proficient or higher on state assessments. U.S. history and science are rated the same way, but the results are cut in half for a maximum of 50 points each.

Growth components are also worth 100 points, and correspond to the percentage of students who have improved their score or stayed the same in those assessments.

Because the state changed their school assessments three years in a row, there is no data to compare against for growth, and for the 2014-15 school year schools were rated against a scale established by the MDE.

The percentage of students who graduate is doubled, resulting in a possible score of 200 points.

The rating scale for the accountability system follows.

• A: 693-900 points

• B: 595-692 points

• C: 489-594 points

• D: 293-488 points

• F: less than 293 points

Myers said that, despite the system’s flaws, it does provide useful data to districts.

“Results help identify strengths and weaknesses, standards which may require more intense or varied instruction and students who may benefit from remediation,” Myers said.

Myers said the key to improving scores may also be school spirit.

“Each of the schools within our district possesses a competitive spirit,” he said. “Selling students on the pride element associated with these assessments is critical.”

BSD Superintendent Ray Carlock was not immediately available for comment.