Statewide assessments returning for students

With the state department of education’s announcement that state assessments for students will be returning, teachers and administrators are hard at work preparing their kids.

COVID-19 has brought many changes to education over the past year and statewide testing is one area that has felt an impact.

Assessments were canceled for the 2019-2020 school year in Mississippi, but this spring teachers are hard at work getting students ready for their return. Vancleave Middle School sixth grade teacher Leigh Davis said, “Teachers have been working very hard to close the gaps, and the students have been meeting those challenges.”

In the Jackson County School District, middle school students are getting back to speed before test time through benchmark assessments and one-on-one tutoring with consultants. Sixth grade math teacher Stephanie Hodges said, “I’ve gone over every question to see how they’ve done, which ones they need to work on, what objectives, what standards.”

“One-on-one tutoring does help bring up those students who are possibly not doing as well in certain areas.”

Director of Curriculum Dr. Penny Westfaul says there’s also encouraging signs among high school students in terms of ACT scores and graduation rates. “This is, for our school district, the highest graduation rate we’ve ever seen, and all three of our schools are over 90 percent graduation.”

With April test dates nearing for the Mississippi academic assessment program, teachers are looking forward to seeing where their students stand. “They have been just marvelous. They are excited to be in school, and I think that has actually been a factor working in their advantage, as far as learning goes.”

“They’ve taken up this challenge. They’re doing a great job, they really are.”