The Leflore County School District and all but one of its schools received grades of F under Mississippi’s accountability system, but the district superintendent says she is confident that recent changes there will make a difference.
The state Department of Education released the grades for districts and schools to the public today. They are based largely on scores on the MCT2 and the Subject Area Tests.
Last year, the Leflore County district received the label of “Successful,” the third-highest of seven levels. Two of its schools — East Elementary and Leflore County Elementary — also were rated “Successful.”
Under last year’s system, the schools and districts were assigned labels on a seven-level scale — in descending order, “Star School,” “High Performing,” “Successful,” “Academic Watch,” “Low Performing,” “At Risk of Failing” and “Failing.”
This year, in addition to those labels, they received letter grades ranging from A to F. Beginning next year, only letter grades will be assigned. For this year’s purposes, “Star School” is equivalent to an A, “High Performing” is a B, “Successful” is a C, “Academic Watch” is a D and the three lowest levels are F’s.
This year, all Leflore County schools received F’s and were rated “Low Performing” except Amanda Elzy Elementary, which was assigned a grade of D and “Academic Watch” status.
If a school district receives F’s two consecutive years, the state will intervene to help bring about improvement. The same happens in a school if it receives F’s three straight years.
Leflore County Superintendent Viola Williams McCaskill said in an email that changes have already been implemented to help boost the numbers.
“Any changes that have been made that are not providing the desired results will be adjusted,” she said. “(The district) is dedicated to enhancing the quality of education for our students to assist in their success. We have implemented a plan to improve our scores and look forward to an increase in scores this academic year.”
McCaskill took office in January after defeating Jean Hall in last November’s election.
“One of the factors we believe contributed to the drop in test scores is the change of superintendent in the middle of the school year,” McCaskill said. “Another factor that may have contributed to the drop was a change in district-level and school-level administrators because of reassignment or resignation.”
The district had earlier announced an improvement plan that includes requiring principals to spend at least 60 percent of their time in the classroom and using curriculum specialists to observe teachers.
Students also are being tested regularly to measure how they are learning the state-mandated course material. Such tests were administered last week. The information from those assessments is being analyzed, and “adjustments will be made as dictated by the data,” McCaskill said.
“We can see that teachers are adjusting their lessons more to teach from bell to bell as well as following the state-adopted curriculum,” she said.
Two curriculum specialists have been added in the district this academic year, bringing the total to six. The added specialists were people with administrative licenses who were reassigned from other jobs in the district.
McCaskill said they provide feedback to principals and teachers, analyze data and “are able to develop a plan of action to address each weakness.”
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The Greenwood district received a grade of C, or “Successful.” Bankston and Davis elementary schools led the way, as both received B grades (“High Performing”). At the other end was W.C. Williams Elementary, which got an F (“Low Performing”).
Jennifer Wilson, the district’s interim superintendent, said not many districts in this area can claim “Successful” ratings three consecutive years, as hers has done. But the goal is to keep improving, she said.
“We had some very good increases, but we have some challenges like any other organization, and we are working on those challenges,” she said. “And we have a plan in place to help us with those areas.”
Davis and Threadgill made significant improvements in the Quality Distribution Index (QDI), which is derived from the state test scores and is a major component of school and district grades. As a result, Davis, which received the “Academic Watch” label last year, moved up two levels. Threadgill has the same “Successful” label as last year, but based on the jump in its QDI, “if they continue on that trend, then next year their label will definitely increase,” Wilson said.
For schools that didn’t do as well, action plans will be put in place to help raise their scores. Wilson said the plans will align with the district’s three-year strategic plan, which the school board approved this week.
The action plans are aimed at improving overall strategies rather than making major changes in day-to-day instruction, she said.
“Practices and strategies in the classroom may be different, but we’re not talking about an overhaul in terms of the classroom,” she said.
The four-week and nine-week assessments administered to the students also help give a sense of their progress, Wilson said. Teachers have pacing guides specifying what students are to learn in a certain period, and if they don’t score well in a certain subject area, the teacher goes back and teaches the material again.
“It gives us some valuable information because it allows us to make data-driven decisions,” Wilson said. “It allows us to look at the data and make immediate corrections.”
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Carroll County Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson said he was pleased with the “Successful” label for his district and excited about its future.
“Everybody works well together. We have a good team and that means a lot to me,” he said.
J.Z. George Middle School moved up from “Academic Watch” (now a grade of D) to “Successful” (now a C) and narrowly missed “High Performing,” or B, he said. That relatively new school has had to deal with some changes but has good leadership in place, he said.
Marshall Elementary also received a C.
J.Z. George High School was labeled “Low Performing” and received a grade of F. Ferguson said he was disappointed with the results there but is optimistic about its future with a new principal, Joey Carpenter, and some new faculty members.
“My goal is to show growth every year,” he said.
He said he has three principals who will get things done, and he expects improvement next year. The principals will be in the classroom as much as they can, and Rana Mitchell, the district’s curriculum coordinator, also has been observing. Mentors are there to help new teachers, too.
Ferguson said if problems can be spotted early, they can be remedied, and students aren’t forced to play catch-up. Likening this process to health care, he said, “You don’t want to be in the hospital and find out what you’ve got.”
The superintendent said the teachers in the district work hard and want to be successful, and Mitchell’s enthusiasm has been contagious. It’s also good to see that the students are quiet and not being disruptive in the halls, and that should translate to a better learning environment, he said.
“All the ingredients are there for us to have an outstanding year this year,” he said.
• Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
