Jackson Jambalaya

Great work to all! Before all the knuckle grading mouth breathers weigh in because they know hot to best teach kids, I just want to say this is meaningful, rigorous, national standard work and all the men and women out there to improve education should be commended. Parents who support kids who go the extra mile (AP is not required) should be commended. Most importantly the students who ignore all the BS low expectations the mouth breathers throw in their way should be absolutely commended. I’m the words of John Wayne: “Life is hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid”.

Taking is taking; passing is passing.

This is good news for Mississippi. It also indicates that the hysterical handwringing over the effect of Covid lockdowns on schools was largely just political grandstanding.

@7:43.....nice try, but the affects of COVID will be on elementary kids, not high schoolers. It makes sense if you had any critical-thinking skills, which I guess your lack of such is proven by your not "following the science" on lockdowns, probably masking, and general sheepishness toward COVID holistically.

@7:43am - As are most things coming out of the GOP.

@7:43 whatever, the kids that are in AP classes weren't effected by closing schools. They have natural, inherited smarts. You can't teach a kid into a high IQ. The below average to average kids were the ones effected by shut downs. They need all the help they can get.

I hope and pray they all do well.

But can we believe these improvements are valid?

7:36 See you didn't enjoy your English classes.

And I can remember hearing once from a coworker in the late ‘80s that, I think the figure was, some 80 percent of the graduates of vaunted Harvard graduated “with honors.”

Well, not true. The schools that stayed shut down longer than everyone else, such as JPS and Canton, did much worse on the 3rd grade reading tests.

Tate deserves all the credit. Haven't you seen his commercials?

Despite the Department of Education's press releases and certain campaign commercials boasting of the gains made in Mississippi schools, the true measure of success comes from comparing Mississippi students to national performance.
Nationwide, AP exams have a pass rate of around 60%. Here the pass rate is 35%. https://blog.prepscholar.com/list-of-ap-exams#:~:text=Most%20AP%20tests%20have%20a,of%20around%2060%25%20or%20higher.
Nationwide, the average ACT score is 19.8. Here it is 17.8 https://www.ontocollege.com/average-act-score/
Just keep in mind that the Department of Education can change (lower) standards to improve performance, just as they did with the high school graduation rate.

Ahh, the AP scam. Yes, it promises "college credit" and dangles vague promises of enhanced credentials for admission. In reality, it's a way that some of the worst schools in the nation can sign many, many kids up for them, teach to the test, and pretend the school can feed them to Ivies or other higher tier schools. Superintendents have another metric that the public doesn't really understand. A two letter acronym to placate Moms.

And it's a money maker, largely. Just like funding EVERYONE to take the ACT or SAT. Even kids clearly not qualified or interested in college take the ACT and bomb it, keeping us even lower in rankings.

The reality: The AP program is decades old, expansive, and lucrative — it brought in nearly half a billion dollars in revenue for the College Board, the nonprofit that oversees it, in 2020.

And, yes, I've sent many kids to AP courses. They are not equivalent to college classes. Many colleges do not accept them as the students perceive they will. And, yes, politics plays a part. Both in content and in admissions decisions. "Gotta have 5 APs..." No.

When the Washington Post came up with a formula for posting "best high schools," it relied heavily on a metric on "how many kids took AP courses."

Yes, in the lily white prep schools, formerly, a lot of kids to AP classes and they went to more demanding schools. This does not translate to most Mississippi students.

But, just like the influence of USN&WR rankings on colleges took effect on college campus policies, the AP myth has filtered down to Mississippi. 20 years after it became pretty apparent that AP courses are not nearly as valuable to most students as dual credit classes actually taught at community colleges. But now 40-70% of high school students are desperate for APs, as grade and degree inflation, with a huge student debt to go with i, rages.

But here we are promoting the schtick. A book, "Shortchanged: How AP Cheats Students," alleges that the College Board is monopolizing a national (and that might be a "woke") curriculum with its hold on not only testing, admissions, and so on, but on high school curriculum. THINK.

And don't fall for College Board or Pearson or other profit makers for Wall Street trying to dictate your curriculum. Geez. Not surprising. Our state policies and laws are always ghost written by corporations. And the College Board is one of those "non profit" outfits where the CEO earned $2.5 Million last year. Good one, CB. "Non profit"-Right.

For smart kids who can afford it, it's a chance to be less bored in school. But, largely, there is an agenda there politically and socially, and there is money to be made. Not surprised to see this spew from Central High grounds, though. Sadly predictable.

KF The children that didn't fall behind during Covid were old enough to already be good students who cared about keeping their grades up. OR they had parents who made sure the online instruction was understood and assignments completed.
And, since my grandchildren and their friends also included outstanding athletes, I know they also "trained" at home and didn't need an adult to force them.
Self-discipline and patience is taught by parents. Parents have the first opportunity to stimulate a child's mind and creativity and keep them healthy enough to have the needed energy.
I'm VERY sick of politics giving parents a pass on parenting... on teaching their children how to behave, or providing supervision so their children aren't exposed to negative influences.
And, it is beyond foolish NOT to be teaching your children not every human is exactly like him or her. Nor are cultures all like ours. A parent is supposed to teach a child not just how to avoid predators but what to do in dangerous situations. Even animals do that, but too many humans don't.

And, frankly, "elites" get to be that way by first of all being smart enough to acquire knowledge and work hard to make money from what they learned. Elon Musk wasn't born with a silver spoon. Those that inherit can be fools but their money will be squandered rather quickly... I knew two guys who inherited the controlling stocks of majority stockholders in companies their fathers started. Both their fathers were good students and acquired a skill that became a business. Both guys were popular frat boys who had studied just enough to get a college degree. Both lost the businesses in hostile takeovers. They golfed and drank away and got conned out what was left.

They too believed, like their fathers, they achieved all they had all by themselves. They didn't credit their wives or employees which is why, the employee who had knowledge stole the " family business" from them and they helped with their ego and lack of knowledge.

10:06 am I'm not surprised that your children didn't benefit and the AP courses were the reason. That's certainly NOT the case for the AP student I know who got a full ride to the Ivy League or the one who passed the college foreign language exam because he was already fluent ( and no, it was his first language or one spoken at home).

Color me underwhelmed. When a public high school, or any high school for that matter, recognizes more than 50% of its graduating seniors as "honor students", one should question the laudations of the public school system.
RMQ

The bar is always lowered in an election year.

AP is nothing more than Advanced Trickery to get high-schoolers to attend college (in case they were on the fence). Why are we requiring a set number of scheduled school days if part of that number is spent in college curricula.

Meanwhile: Posted by our fearless blog leader..."Well, not true. The schools that stayed shut down longer than everyone else, such as JPS and Canton, did much worse on the 3rd grade reading tests."

Please understand, Kingfish, that grades, scores, various other metrics and attendance have nothing at all to do with Covid in the cases you cited. Remember, you WERE talking about JPS and Canton Separate...two of the sorriest educational venues in this state, either crossing into failing, near failing, post failing and will fail...for years.

Shame on MDE

A part of the grade schools get from MDE is based upon how many kids are taking AP courses. It does not matter if the students pass the AP test or not. School districts are just playing the game as a result. JPS has a lot of students taking AP courses who have no chance of passing the test. You can’t blame JPS for it though, because they are just playing the game MDE made.

Why-oh why- do I have doubts about the validity of these scores?

Most of these kids will be part of the continuing Mississippi Brain Drain.

"I’m the words of John Wayne: “Life is hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid”.

Life is also hard if you can't spell 'knuckle dragging' or 'in'.

Utterly shameful that the local press believes the numbers that come out of the DOE. It's corrupt to the bone.

1:13 sounds like a simple change could be made--a part of the grade schools get from MDE is based on how many kids PASS AP courses.

Also, it could be that they are trying to incentivize schools in general just to offer AP classes.

Step 1: Just offer AP classes.
Ste[ 2: Incentivize AP test results

@10:06 -

I agree with a lot of your points, but I also think a couple of points should be made.

-The curriculum coming out of the college board is completed by experts in that field, so not sure which option you think is better . . .
-Dual enrollment from a juco is great if you are staying in state, but if you wish to go somewhere else, you better show you can compete nationally and globally.
-I would love to see the scores meet and exceed the global/national pass rate. We are failing our kids with this semester block schedule, because they finish an AP course in December, but don't test until May.
-The school districts who are paying for their kids to take the exam is also bringing down that pass rate, because many of those kids do not care because it ain't their money . . .
-AP classes, if taught by a credentialed teacher, are SOOOOOOOOOO much harder than the dual enrollment BS offered. . .