New Clarksdale Municipal School District Superintendent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson is not satisfied with the failing grade it received from the Mississippi Department of Education.
The school board met Thursday night, just two days after the grades came out, and Nelson broke down the different schools, strengths and weaknesses throughout the district.
“Our goal is to get that score to a C,” Nelson said.
A total of 36.1 percent of the students were proficient in science during the 2017-18 school year, but that dropped to 23.8 percent in 2018-19.
Students were more proficient in science than reading, math and US History in 2017-18.
“Science, we have to do some work,” Nelson said. “Our focus on science, we have some work to do because we lost points there.”
CMSD students were the most proficient in math in 2018-19 at 27 percent – a 0.1 percent increase from one year earlier.
For the bottom 25 percent of CMSD students, there was a greater growth in math than reading.
Math points went from 40.1 in 2017-18 to 49.7 in 2018-19 and math library programs service (LPS) points went from 43.2 to 56.6.
“We did have some gain in mathematics with the lower 25 percent, but we have some work to do around the literacy and reading side of it,” Nelson said.
The graduation rate increased from 74.4 to 82.8 percent in one year.
“I’d like to have that number up this year,” Nelson said. “We have 146, 147 seniors this year. Get all those seniors across the stage. Get that rate up.”
Booker T. Washington Elementary School
Booker T. Washington Elementary School’s grade increased from a D to a C.
Proficiency points increased in reading from 20.2 in 2017-18 to 25 in 2018-19. Proficiency points in math increased by 8.1 from 9.5 in 2017-18 to 17.6 the next year.
The biggest increase in growth points for the lowest 25 percent of students came in reading, as it went from 41.8 to 66.4 in one year.
George H. Oliver Elementary School
George H Oliver Elementary School’s grade increased from an F to a D.
Proficiency points in math went from 8.3 in 2017-18 to 11.4 in 2018-19.
“We’re working on the reading side of that for George H. Oliver,” Nelson said. “On the literacy side, they went down, but they went up in mathematics.”
The growth rate for the lower 25 percent had significant increases in both math and LPS math. Math went from 20.5 points to 53.8 and LPS math went from 5.3 points to 53.8.
Heidelberg Elementary School
Heidelberg Elementary School’s grade increased three letters from an F to a B
“Heidelberg was a surprising number for us,” Nelson said.
“They had some great gain there at Heidelberg.”
Heidelberg increased its scores in every area.
Reading proficiency points went from 22.3 in 2017-18 to 27.7 in 2018-19 and math went from 26.2 to 28.7.
LPS reading was the largest growth for the bottom 25 percent as it went from 46.7 points to 83.9 points – an increase of 37.2.
Kirkpatrick Health & Medical Science Magnet School
Kirkpatrick Health & Medical Science Magnet School dropped from an A to a B. The school missed an A by seven points.
“Their goal is to get back to an A,” Nelson said. “It’s very difficult once you hit an A to really sustain it. They’re working very hard now making sure our students have the resources that will do well to get that score back up to an A.”
Reading proficiency points dropped from 36.6 in 2017-18 to 30.4 in 2018-19, while math increased 1.6 points going from 36.6 to 38.2.
Growth points for the lower 25 percent decreased in every category.
LPS reading regressed the most with a decrease of 20.6 points. It went from 82.1 to 61.5 in one year.
Oakhurst Intermediate Academy
Oakhurst Intermediate Academy remained an F school and decreased four points in its accountability score.
“This is a score where we just feel like we flat lined,” Nelson said. “This school has great potential to pull us up to possibly a B district. This school, I’m predicting at least 100 points in growth.
“We’re working very hard to improve this letter score two grades.”
Science proficiency points decreased from 29.6 in 2017-18 to 20.9 in 2018-19.
LPS reading in the bottom 25 percent growth points decreased 23.9 points going from 61.7 to 37.8.
W.A. Higgins Middle School
W.A. Higgins Middle School improved from an F to a D, but science was still a concern.
“Science is an area that we have to work very hard across the district because we lost points in science all the way across to high school,” Nelson said.
Science proficiency points decreased from 39.7 in 2017-18 to 24.9 in 2018-19.
Clarksdale High School/J.W. Stampley 9th Grade Academy
Clarksdale High School and J.W. Stampley 9th Grade Academy’s grade remained a D, but Nelson said the goal was to increase it to a B this year.
Proficiency points decreased in three of the fourth categories.
Science was the biggest decrease going from 39.7 in 2017-18 to 26.0 in 2018-19.
