A majority of students at public schools across Carroll and Leflore counties scored poorly on state exams, according to results from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program, administered last spring.
The results, which the Mississippi Department of Education released last week, showed student proficiency levels in English and math also decreased at schools across the state.
Dr. Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, along with Greenwood area school leaders, attributed the drop to difficulties that emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the adjustment to virtual learning.
The state tests were administered to students from third grade through eighth grade, as well as those in English II and Algebra I.
Students placed in one of five levels of proficiency. Level 1 (minimal) and Level 2 (basic) are considered failing scores. Passing scores start at Level 3, with Level 4 considered proficient and Level 5 advanced.
A large percentage of the students within the Carroll County and Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School districts scored at Level 1 or Level 2 for both the English and math exams, meaning they failed.
Statewide, math proficiency levels dropped from 47.4% in 2019, the last time MAAP was administered, to 35.1% this year.
In English, the proficiency declined from 41.6% in 2019 to 34.9% this year.
Almost 90% of third graders within the Greenwood Leflore district and 85.2% of third graders in the Carroll County district failed the math exam. The failure rate was even higher for fourth grade students in the Greenwood Leflore district at 92.9%.
Students in various grades within the Greenwood Leflore and the Carroll County districts generally fared better on the English exams.
Results also include how students of Leflore Legacy Academy, a Greenwood charter school, fared during its inaugural year.
The school’s sixth grade students had a higher passing rate for the English and math exams compared to sixth grade students at the Greenwood Leflore district, though a majority of sixth graders at the charter school still failed the test.
At Leflore Legacy, 37.3% of sixth graders scored a Level 3 or higher on the English exam compared to only 28.6% of the Greenwood Leflore district’s sixth graders.
In the Carroll County district, 39.3% of sixth graders passed the exam, while the state average passage rate for sixth grade students was 63.6%.
The passage rate of Leflore Legacy’s sixth grade students for the math exam was higher compared to sixth graders at the Carroll County and the Greenwood Leflore district. Again, however, a majority of sixth grade students at the charter school and the two school districts ultimately failed the exam.
At Leflore Legacy, 25.4% of its sixth grade students passed the math exam, compared to 22.8% of Carroll County sixth graders and 20.3% of the Greenwood Leflore district sixth graders.
The Mississippi average passing rate for sixth graders for the math exam was
60.8%.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 662-581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
