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State board approves ESSA amendment to revise accountability model and add readiness index
Summary
The Mississippi Board of Education voted to submit an amendment to its consolidated state plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act that creates a new readiness index combining college and career measures, revises English Learner progress timelines, and changes exit criteria for federally required school designations.
The Mississippi Board of Education voted Feb. 20 to approve submission of an amendment to the state's consolidated plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to the U.S. Department of Education. The amendment would add a new 150-point readiness index combining acceleration and college- and career-readiness measures, update English learner (EL) progress rules linked to the new ELPA21 assessment, and change how federal school designation exit criteria are calculated.
Board approval follows months of work by the agency's accountability task force and other stakeholders. State Superintendent Dr. Evans told the board the amendment reverses the usual sequence of state and federal review to comply with an earlier Office of Inspector General finding; the board will approve business rules later and will provide local education agencies time to comment through the APA process.
Under the proposed readiness index, the former acceleration and college-and-career components remain but are reorganized into a combined index. Acceleration elements that recognize dual credit, AP courses and industry certifications would remain at 50 points; new “achievement” and “assessment” rows would recognize fifth-year graduates, high school equivalency completions and a wider set of ACT/WorkKeys results (including ACT superscores and WorkKeys bronze-to-platinum levels). The adoption would shift some points previously tied to U.S. History proficiency into the new readiness index.
The amendment would also address English learner progress by moving to the ELPA21 assessment this year and proposing up to six years for EL students to reach proficiency, an extension based on national research showing some EL students take six years to reach proficiency. Agency staff told the board they removed a sample progress table from the formal amendment to avoid “boxing in” future decisions and plan to use this spring's ELPA21 data to set concrete progress expectations.
The proposal also decouples A–F letter grade cutoffs from federal designations (Comprehensive Support and Improvement, Targeted Support and Improvement, Additional Targeted Support and Improvement). Instead of using letter-grade boundaries to determine sufficient progress for exit, the amendment would require schools to demonstrate measurable improvement on composite scores from year of designation to year of consideration for exit, or otherwise no longer meet identification thresholds.
Alan, an accountability office presenter, said the U.S. Department of Education can take eight to ten months to review an ESSA amendment and that many of the business-rule details will return to the board after the department’s review. He told the board the changes are consistent with practices other states have adopted and are intended to provide clearer recognition of multiple student pathways to success.
Board member Mary Warner moved approval; the motion carried by voice vote.
If the U.S. Department of Education approves the amendment, MDE staff said they will follow with a separate, more detailed business-rules package and set performance standards (A–F cut points) once fresh data are available this summer and fall. The agency plans to publish the business rules before the next school year so districts have timely guidance.
