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Mississippi panel weighs transition plan after state shifts to ELPA21; US Department of Education denied blanket waiver
Summary
Task force discussed a plan to map the old English‑language assessment (Lost Links) to ELPA21 using a concordance table; staff said the U.S. Department of Education would not grant a general waiver, so MDE will run bridge analyses and include methodology in an amendment request.
The task force devoted substantial time to transitioning the English language proficiency indicator after Mississippi switches its EL assessment to ELPA21.
Chris Topolasco framed the problem: because ELPA21 and the prior test are not comparable, the accountability indicator needs a transition method. "When I corresponded with the U.S. Department of Ed, I said, can you give me some examples of how other states have gone through this? They did," Topolasco said. He told the group MDE proposed constructing a concordance (bridge) table between Lost Links and ELPA21 using historical relationships and statistical methods such as equal‑percentile or regression mapping.
Topolasco said his earlier hope for a waiver to suspend EL calculations was tempered after a U.S. Department of Education response. "They said they've never given a waiver for this, and don't get your hopes up," he said; the department therefore advised MDE to prepare a written amendment describing the proposed methodology. Panelists suggested alternatives — for example, carrying forward prior‑year impacts for a transition year — but staff cautioned that formal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education would be needed.
Department staff recommended retaining the state’s value/transition‑table methodology for EL growth, allowing up to six years to attain proficiency with differentiated thresholds by starting level. Members raised operational questions — how to treat students who already took a test this spring, whether to treat the transition as cohort‑based, and how participation/attendance windows (month‑8 enrollment) affect counts. Alan Burrow said the department will run the bridge analyses once spring scores are available and bring impact results back to the task force.
Why it matters: The method chosen will determine whether English learners receive growth credit during the vendor and assessment transition and how schools’ accountability composites are computed during the transition year. The department emphasized documenting the proposed method in the ESSA amendment to the U.S. Department of Education.
Next steps: MDE will produce: (1) a documented methodology for the amendment request describing statistical concordance and procedures; (2) impact analyses after spring ELPA21 results are available; and (3) discussion materials for the task force to decide whether to carry prior impacts, adopt the concordance, or pursue alternative approaches.
