Data-sharing work group reports multiple agreements with assessment vendors

Joanne Malone, acting chair of the Mississippi Department of Education Data Governance Committee, on Nov. 6 heard a status report that the data-sharing work group has executed several vendor agreements to support assessment delivery and data analysis across the state.

Donna Hales, who presented the work-group report, said the group executed four biliteracy agreements covering assessments in American Sign Language, Avant, Language Testing International and the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language. Hales credited committee member Lemuel Eubanks for helping finalize those agreements.

Hales said separate agreements were executed with Cambium and the University of California, Los Angeles to support analysis of student data and to maintain validity for the ELPA21 assessment program. The work group also amended an annual agreement with Catapult Learning to continue professional-development and instructional-coaching services for selected K–12 districts and MDE programs.

Hales reported that data-sharing agreements with the College Board and International Baccalaureate remain in place for districts that submit student data from those programs. She also said the department executed a new agreement with Renaissance to provide a kindergarten readiness assessment and to share certain district data with MDE.

The report described the agreements as operational arrangements between MDE and vendors; Hales did not report any formal committee vote on the individual agreements during the meeting. No additional funding amounts, effective dates or contract numbers were provided during the presentation.