The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following statement.
The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) released accountability grades for the 2025-26 school year, which show 53.9% of schools and 50.7% of districts earned a grade of A or B. These are the first grades issued under higher standards for earning grades, and they set a new baseline for measuring school and district performance. As a result, 2025-26 grades cannot be compared to grades from previous school years.
State law requires that standards for student, school and district performance increase when student proficiency rates exceed 75% or when 65% of schools or districts earn a grade of B or higher. Mississippi met the threshold for grades in 2023, when 74% of schools and 71% of districts earned an A or B. The MDE then began a two-year process with stakeholders and technical experts to reset the standards, and the Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) approved new A-F cut scores on Nov. 20, 2025.
The accountability system awards up to 700 points for elementary and middle schools. High schools and districts can earn up to 1,000 points. The new cut scores establish the minimum number of points needed to earn each grade.
“Raising academic standards is required by state law because it is an essential part of ensuring Mississippi students and schools continue to improve academically each year,” said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education.
Mississippi’s accountability grades help educators, parents and communities know how well their local schools and districts serve their students. The components are based on state and federal law and SBE policy. For 2025-26, they include:
- Student proficiency and growth rates from statewide assessments of English Language Arts (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 high school assessments in Algebra I, English II and Biology
- Four-year graduation rate
- A new Readiness Index for high schools and districts, which counts results on the ACT, SAT, ACT WorkKeys and Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Advanced Placement, dual credit and dual enrollment courses; career and technical education programs; industry certifications; diploma endorsements; and on-time and five-year graduation
Statewide student assessment data make up a large part of accountability grades. The 2025-26 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) results, released on Aug. 20, 2026, showed continued growth in science, stable performance in ELA and a slight decline in mathematics proficiency.
To address learning gaps, the MDE sought funds from the Legislature during the 2026 regular session to create statewide math and adolescent literacy initiatives. The state Legislature appropriated $3.45 million in 2026-27 to strengthen math instruction and $9 million for adolescent literacy, while continuing its $5 million annual appropriation for overall math initiatives and $15 million annually toward the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in grades K-3.
Grade Distribution for Districts and Schools
Thirty-one of the state’s 148 school districts earned an A for 2025-26. The five districts with the highest point totals are Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Clinton, Long Beach, Ocean Springs, and Enterprise.
District Grade Distribution
School Grade Distribution
Some schools and districts may have received a lower letter grade in 2025-26 even though student performance stayed the same or improved. A school or district with the same point total as last year could earn a lower grade under the new cut scores. Parents, community members, and local leaders should look at the individual components of a district’s and school’s grade for the full picture of academic proficiency and growth, graduation rates, college- and career-readiness, and other indicators.
In 2016, the State Board of Education set a goal that all schools and districts be rated C or higher. At that time, 62% of both schools and districts met this standard. Even under the higher standards, 79.7% of schools and 82.4% of districts earned a grade of C or higher in 2025-26.
Districts that persistently underperform face the possibility of charter schools opening in their communities or being taken over by the state. State law allows charter schools to apply to open in areas where the district is rated D or F. Sixteen traditional (non-charter) districts and eight of the state’s nine charter schools earned a D or F grade in 2025-26.
Districts of Transformation
Districts of Transformation are local school districts placed under state control because of chronic academic underperformance or persistent governance, financial or operational deficiencies. Among the state’s six Districts of Transformation, Holmes County Consolidated and Noxubee County school districts have the longest records of academic improvement with a grade of C or higher. A district must achieve and sustain a C grade or correct the deficiencies that led to the takeover before the State Board of Education can consider returning it to local governance.
Districts of Transition Performance History
“Improving districts that have faced challenges for many years takes time, and there are no quick fixes,” Dr. Evans said. “Holmes County Consolidated and Noxubee County school districts have shown what sustained effort can produce. I am confident that all Districts of Transformation will continue to make progress toward higher student outcomes over the long term.”
Mississippi’s education progress over the past decade has been recognized nationally. Results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed Mississippi fourth-graders ranked 9th for reading and 16th for math scores, while making the nation’s largest gains since 2013. In 2026, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Book ranked Mississippi 16th in the nation for education, compared to 48th in 2014.
Mississippi credits the overall rise in student achievement over the past decade to the implementation of higher academic standards and statewide support to teachers to help students reach higher standards. Other factors include the effective implementation of laws and policies that developed or strengthened early childhood education, literacy instruction, school and district accountability, and advanced learning opportunities for high school students.
The State Board of Education approved a new Mississippi Strategic Plan for Pre-K through Grade 12 Education, effective July 1, 2026, to help the state build upon its historic academic achievements.
“The 2025-26 grades set a strong baseline for continued progress for schools and districts across the state,” Dr. Evans said. “As we maintain high academic standards, continue to provide support for teachers and leaders, and ensure a strong accountability system, there is no limit to what Mississippi students can accomplish.”
Resources
- School- and district-level accountability results: mdek12.org/publicreporting/
accountability
- The Mississippi Succeeds Report Card, which includes additional information about the performance of schools and districts, will display official accountability results after Mississippi State Board of Education approval on Oct. 15, 2026: msrc.mdek12.org
8 comments:
The JPS results are pathetic.
And remember boys and girls, if you are condemned because you reside in this district, no choice to go to better schools for you. Failing school teachers should be fired
Still not acceptable.
Chronic absenteeism increased from roughly 17% in 2019 to 25% in 2024 and only 32% of Mississippi fourth-graders reached NAEP Proficient or better in reading.
Failing parents should be fired. Fixed it for you.
And remember boys and girls, every state that has implemented school choice has shown progressively worse academic results as measured by NAEP over the last 10 years. Mississippi which has not implemented that garbage has shown remarkable improvement. But by all means, keep spouting garbage with no data nor reserach to back it up. Do you work in the Governors office ?
Someone who goes to my gym who is one of those Principals that goes to poorly performing schools and whips them into semi-decent shape (as far as he can) showed me a photo of a bottle of soap that had it spelled "SOPE". Somewhere in the delta.
Are there any proficiency tests for teacher to demonstrate their abilities in their field, plus the ability to speak and write English and reading comprehension?
... every state that has implemented school choice has shown progressively worse academic results as measured by NAEP over the last 10 years.
LINK?
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