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Commission seeks revisions to accountability rules and to drop U.S. History EOC as graduation requirement
Summary
The commission voted to request State Board rulemaking to revise the Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards (Miss. Admin. Code 7‑24) and to eliminate the U.S. History end‑of‑course assessment as a graduation requirement beginning with the 2025–26 school year.
The Commission on School Accreditation on Tuesday voted to ask the State Board of Education to begin the Administrative Procedures Act rulemaking process to revise the Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards (Miss. Admin. Code 7‑24) and to eliminate the U.S. History end‑of‑course (EOC) assessment as a graduation requirement beginning in the 2025–26 school year.
Staff presenters said the set of changes operationalizes previously announced revisions to the consolidated state plan and adds a new high‑school "readiness" indicator. "These changes will go into effect the next academic year," Allen Burrow told commissioners, noting the updates include participation‑rate language, growth calculations, and the inclusion of the new readiness indicator in high schools.
Burrow said the changes also clarify how accelerated coursework is counted and require that Advanced Placement scores be reported directly by the College Board to be included in accountability calculations. "AP assessments must be directly reported by the College Board to be included in accountability measures," he said.
Commission staff described adjustments to the Senior Snapshot and other business rules to capture students who exit after the typical assessment window. The Senior Snapshot changes will include students enrolled in month 1 of 10th grade with continuous state enrollment until completion or early completion; it will also add students who exit as dropouts in month 9 of 11th grade or later to better reflect outcomes in the new readiness indicator.
In a separate but related action, staff proposed removing the U.S. History EOC from the list of administered tests and from concordance tables and composite‑score options used for graduation determinations. Wendy Clemons said the U.S. History EOC will continue to be administered in the current school year and "we will stop administering it ... the 2025‑26 school year." Clemons and Burrow said appendices A‑5 through A‑9 and Appendix F of the accountability standards and the glossary were edited to remove references to the U.S. History assessment and to update examples and cross‑references.
On the motion to submit rulemaking to revise the Mississippi Administrative Code 7‑24 (accountability business rules covering participation rate, growth, acceleration, banking scores, students with disabilities, invalid scores, special schools, college and career readiness, Senior Snapshot, and others), the commission adopted the request by voice vote. The transcript did not record a clear named mover for that motion; the chair announced the motion carried.
The commission also voted to ask the State Board to begin the APA process to eliminate administration of the U.S. History EOC and to revise State Board Policy Chapter 36, Rule 36.4 (assessments required for graduation), Rule 36.5 (additional assessment options), appendices A‑5 through A‑9 and F, and the glossary. That motion was moved by Anthony Bryant, seconded by Sarah Wilborn and adopted by voice vote; the chair announced, "The motion carries."
Staff said next steps include publishing proposed rule language for public comment and coordinating the changes with federal consolidated state plan submissions where applicable.
