Clarksdale, Coahoma get “F” from state.
The Clarksdale Municipal and Coahoma County school districts received failing grades for the second consecutive year with the Mississippi Department of Education releasing the latest letter grades for districts Tuesday afternoon.
In releasing the score, the state pointed out 70% of Mississippi’s school districts will be rated C or higher when the Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) approves accountability grades Thursday for the 2018-19 school year. The grades show a three-year trend of continuous school and district improvement.
But Clarksdale and Coahoma County schools continue to rank near the very bottom. Both districts received a D grade in 2017.
Both districts have been threatened with take-over by the state if student test scores don’t improve.
Mississippi’s A-F accountability system evaluates how well schools and districts are performing each year. Accountability grades are based, in part, on how well students perform and progress from year to year on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) tests for English language arts (ELA) and Mathematics. These tests are aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards and are administered annually to students in grades 3-8 and in high school. Overall, students showed statistically significant gains in both ELA and Mathematics from 2017-18 to 2018-19.
But among Mississippi’s 146 school districts, Clarksdale Municipal School District ranked 129th and Coahoma County School District ranked 131st.
First-year CMSD Superinten-dent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson and CCSD Interim Superintendent Dr. Ilean Richards addressed the issues and have their sights set on earning a C grade during the 2019-20 academic year.
Nelson said he hopes the CMSD’s score is at least 536, which would be an improvement of 60 points. He felt the key was to build a foundation around literacy – an area where many children are behind – to sustain success.
“We are working on the foundational things right,” Nelson said. “If we can work on all the little things, we can get to the big things.”
Sherard Elementary School’s C was the highest grade in the CCSD, but Richards expects the results to be the opposite one year from today.
“We will have nothing less than a C at all of our schools,” she said.
A combination of factors contributed to the failing grades.
Nelson pointed out the CMSD’s score did improve from 425 to 476.
“The focus on the instructional process is improving on a huge way here,” he said. “That’s something that we‘re working on. We’re making sure the resources are aligned to the standards, so this will increase the accountability system for Clarksdale Municipal.
“We, in the 26th day of school, are looking at the resources carefully to make sure they’re aligned to standards to enhance the accountability system.”
Nelson said students are enjoying learning new information and teachers in the district are also happy, but that is something the MDE does not take into consideration with its accountability grades.
Richards saw some improvement in Coahoma County High School’s grade.
“I’m disappointed in the grading, but we’re moving forward,” she said. “Our high school had been an F for three years in a row and we missed the mark by 18 points.”
One issue Richards said the state did not factor into the equation, which could have hurt the district’s grade, was a high number of new teachers at CCSD.
“One of the things that the state may not be taking into consideration is the staff has a lot of new members without a certificate,” she said. “We’ve had to build capacity with that staff. We’ve had to retain those staff members so we’ll be able to do much more with the children next year.
“Another thing that we have done this year is we have improved student attendance. We’ve got to have children attendance here in school.”
Test scores are also an important focus for both superintendents.
“We have to improve the teaching and learning of the standards,” Nelson said. “By doing that, it improves the rating of the school.”
Richards said she would present her plan to improve test scores during the Oct. 15 school board meeting.
Oakhurst Intermediate Academy was the lone school to receive a failing grade in the CMSD, but Nelson talked about the plan to address issues at individual schools that have been performing below expectations.
“We’re using data to make decisions for instruction,” Nelson said. “We’ve already started working with our leadership team over this last 26 days of school to assure that we are presenting the best evidence based practices for success with this accountability model.”
Nelson said the instructional leader molds a school along with the teachers.
Jonestown Elementary School and Coahoma County High School had failing grades in the CCSD.
“We’re taking an in-depth look at how we’re delivering instruction,” Richards said. “We’re taking a look at our curriculum. Those are some things. We’re taking a look at making sure we’re communicating with parents and guardians.”
Nelson and Richards identified schools in their districts that performed well.
“Kirkpatrick (Health & Medical Science Magnet School) is a high performing school,” Nelson said. “Right now, their score is a B. They’re seven points away from an A.”
Heidelberg Elementary School improved from an F to a B in one year.
The two schools in the CMSD found their success in different ways.
“I know, Kirkpatrick, they do a great job of retaining and keeping 100 percent of their staff on board, so when you have consistency with teachers, it really makes a difference in the educational process for students,” Nelson said.
“I think, at Heidelberg, they focused on areas in literacy and mathematics to improve students.”
Richards said, after being stagnant for three years, CCHS is on an upward swing.
“The bright spot is we now have staff members on board to be able to improve academics,” she said.
“We have such positive attitude this year. That’s also positive for us.”
Coahoma County schools have budgeted $22.7 million this year with revenue of $19, million.
Clarksdale has $28 million in the general budget and $4 million in the federal budget for a total budget of $32 million.
“We’re working hard in the Clarksdale Municipal School District to assure the students are getting a good education,” Nelson said.
Richards also said her students are get a good education, but acknowledged the need for improvement.
“We have some challenges, but yes we are providing them,” she said. “We want to be better at what we do. And, if we’re better, then the education for the children will be even better.
“We are really taking a hard look at improving ACT test scores. We have a very intense ACT curriculum that we are putting into place.”
