West Tallahatchie School District received an overall higher mark on a state accountability scale while East Tallahatchie lost some ground, according to the Mississippi Department of Education.
MDE on Thursday released a report on 2022-23 district and school-level accountability ratings.
The Mississippi Statewide Accountability System uses letter grades of A-F to reflect how well schools and school districts are performing based on standardized criterion.
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Grades are based on student achievement, individual student growth, graduation rate, student participation in testing and other measures.
On a districtwide basis, the West Tallahatchie school system improved from a grade of D to a grade of C while East Tallahatchie dropped from a D to an F, based on a comparison of 2021-22 and 2022-23 school year results.
Among individual schools, Charleston High School jumped from a D rating to B, while West Tallahatchie High School progressed from D to C.
The C was the best score achieved by West Tally since the present state rating scale was implemented in 2012. CHS had seen only one other B over those years, in 2017. The CHS B was fueled in part by 63.6% of CHS standardized test-takers showing proficiency in history, up from 31.7% the previous year. At WTHS, 80% of those tested showed proficiency in history, an improvement from 49% last year.
Charleston Middle School digressed from a D to an F, while Charleston Elementary and R.H. Bearden Elementary maintained their previous D ratings.
Historical results of local schools in the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System are shown from implementation of the rating scale in 2012. (Sun-Sentinel graphic)
Comparing this year's results with those from the last pre-pandemic year in 2019, East Tallahatchie as a district remained flat at F, while West Tallahatchie improved from F to C.
Individual campuses either improved or were unchanged based on 2019 and 2023 results: MDE did not release new district and school letter grades for 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to the pandemic.
Charleston Elementary rose from F in 2019 to D this year, Charleston Middle was flat at F, Charleston High improved from D to B, Bearden Elementary was unchanged at D and West Tally moved from D to C.
According to MDE, federal law requires all states to assess students annually in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once during high school.
Mississippi's accountability system includes the following components:
» Student proficiency and growth rates in ELA and mathematics in grades 3-8
» Growth of the lowest-performing 25% of students in ELA and mathematics
» Science proficiency in grades 5 and 8
» English Learner progress toward becoming proficient in the English language
» Performance on the ACT and proficiency in end-of-course subject area assessments in high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History
» Student participation and performance in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement and dual credit/dual enrollment courses
» Four-year graduation rate
MDE reported that 87% of Mississippi schools and 91% of state public school districts earned an accountability grade of C or higher for 2022-23, up from 81% and 87%, respectively, in 2021-22.
Statewide, 57 (39%) of the 145 school districts in Mississippi received an overall grade of A, 47 (32%) were rated B, 29 (20%) were C, and six each (4%) were D and F.
Some area A-rated school districts for 2022-23 are Grenada, Lafayette County and Oxford.
Some area B-rated school districts are Coffeeville, Quitman County, South Panola, Sunflower County Consolidated and Water Valley.
In addition to West Tallahatchie, area C-rated school districts include Cleveland, Coahoma County, Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated and North Panola.
D-rated public districts in this neck of the woods include Clarksdale Collegiate Charter School, Clarksdale Municipal and North Bolivar Consolidated.
In addition to East Tallahatchie, area F-rated school districts are West Bolivar Consolidated and Leflore Legacy Academy Charter School.
Charter schools are reported as both a school and a district.
Superintendents of the East and West Tallahatchie school districts had not yet responded to requests for comment as of publication.
UPDATE, Oct. 5, 2023: Go here for a story about comments from superintedents of the East and West Tallahatchie school districts.
