Tuesday, May 31, 2022

More Jackson Students Fail Reading Tests

The lockdowns predictably took their toll on Jackson public school students.  The Mississippi State Department of Education release of the 2022 third-grade reading-gate scores last week confirmed fears that Jackson children were not learning how to read as they "learned from home".  40% of JPS third-graders flunked the reading test. 

Although it seems students are tested to death, the third-grade reading-gate test is a big deal.  If a child is not reading on his own grade level by third grade, he falls hopelessly behind and his chances for succeeding in school diminish greatly.  The first reading-gate tests were not kind to JPS as 28% of students failed in 2015 but JPS buckled down and students improved to a 90% passage rate in 2018.  2015 post, 2016 post,

However, MDE raised the passing score from Level 4 to Level 3 on the reading portion of the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) English Language Arts (ELA) assessment.  As expected, the tougher standards caused JPS failure rates to increase to 36% in 2019. 

Although standards toughened, more Jackson kids were becoming literate.  Five cohorts of students that passed the reading-gate were enough to lift JPS's  overall rating from an F to a D as the number of "D" and "F" middle and elementary schools fell.  Funny, send literate students to middle school and the school stops failing.  What a concept.  

Unfortunately, the pandemic struck and Jackson's children were forced to learn from home. A deep dive into the report's weeds reveals the harsh reality of how the lockdowns wrecked JPS's progress.  17 schools fared worse than in 2019 while only 11 improved.  The average failure increase was 13 points while the average passing rate increase was 12 points. However,t two of the schools reported improvements of 40 (Green) and 41 points (Johnson), making them outliers .  

The JPS average difference per school between 2019 and 2020 was -3 points.  However, remove the two outliers and it jumps to a -10 points per school.  Ouch.  

 

Comparisons between 2019 and 2022 show the trend. 

2020

9 schools had failure rates over 50%

16 schools had failure rates over 40%

20 schools had failure rates over 30%

2019

5 schools had failure rates over 50%

13 schools had failure rates over 40%

18 schools had failure rates over 30%.   

There is no other way to say it.  The shutdowns were bad for the kids locked out of school.  One hopes JPS and MDE sticks to their guns and eschews promoting these kids to the fourth grade unless they learn how to read.  Such a gift is really poison in disguise as it will doom the child to life of  failure in school, thus creating more problems for society.   

Only one other school district in the Jackson metro area performed worse on the reading tests than in 2019 and it was the district that kicked the kids out just as Jackson did.  The other districts improved or remained the same. A comparison of the scores between JPS and the metro area school districts will be posted by Wednesday. 

Raw Data

School: 2022 Failure Rate (2019 Failure Rate) Difference (Change in student pop.)

Baker: 65% (58%) +13 (-69)

Isabel: 61% (33%) +27 (-90)

Marshall: 56% (42%) +14 (-145)

Raines: 55% (56%) -2 (-59)

Walton: 55% (43%) +12 (+26)

McLeod: 53% (22%) +31 (-62)

Boyd: 52% (45%) +7 (+30)

Oak Forest: 52% (34%) +18 (-128)

Sykes: 51% (41%) +10 (-140)

Wilkin: 49% (50%) -1 (-103)

Galloway: 49% (62%) -13 (-154)

Timberlawn: 48% (43%) +5 (-160)

Clausell: 46% (49%) -3 (-74)

Bates: 45% (35%) +10 (+143)

Lee: 42% (23%) +19

Pecan Park: 41% (40%) +1 (+6)

North Jackson: 39% (37%) +2 (-87)

Dawson: 37% (20%) +17 (-95)

Lake: 34% (35%) -1 (-133)

Spann: 32% (24%) +8 (-32)

Key: 27% (15%) +12 (-70)

Green: 27% (67%) -40 (-98)

John Hopkins: 19% (11%) -8

Casey: 15% (Montessori) (7%) +8

Lester: 11% (17%) -6

Johnson: 8% (49%) -41 (-93 students)

Smith: 7% (29%) -22

McWillie: <5% (9%) -4

Obama Magnet: <5% (<5%) -

 




29 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's JPS, everyone knows they suck and the state should take them over

Anonymous said...

Yeah, right. It was the lockdowns. Not the thugnificent culture of failure and decay.

Anonymous said...

What Jackson needs is a "Chokwe Lumumba Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Want to Learn how to do Other Things Good Too."

Krusatyr said...

1. School Choice plus Vouchers: put education in hands of parents, f the teachers' unions.

2. Keep standards high, no dilution.

3. Parent(s) need to read books to toddler kids twice per day.

4. Nutrition at home, no soda pop, no fried food, no candy.

5. Make older kids run a mile and read an hour BEFORE TV, phone, computer games.

7. Eliminate violent videos/video games from kids' lives.

Anonymous said...

If it was the covid lockdown then why don't all other schools in the state have the same results.

Anonymous said...

Attn 2:25 You are assuming the parents have the abilities to read and teach. On second thought, you are assuming what few parents are around actually care about the lost children. It is obviously to late to teach the few parents around responsibility.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like incremental improvements.

Anonymous said...

It should be apparent that JPS schooling is basically just free childcare...and free food...and free counselling and free transportation to and from "school"....and is a just another govt job for a lot of people.

What paying customers would tolerate this from any service/product out in the real world?

"Free" (to the consumer of such) = "crap quality ".

Anonymous said...

Is it really surprising that a population that spends political capital on activist judges instead of a functional library system has kids that know how to murder each other instead of read?

Anonymous said...

Weird huh… meanwhile JA prep at Andrew’s MRA Madison co schools rankin co schools were already in class in person learning and JPS is having virtual learning and now they see what happens. JPS is nothing more than a employment agency that hires non whites and feeds students and are glorified babysitters. You want to get these kids out of the poverty cycle?… place them in trades… electrical plumbing HVAC welding etc… my plumber made over 750k last yr. no college degree has 3 kids at FPDS lives in Fondren 600k house 4 trucks with 2 men each operating in metro Jackson area. These kids deserve to do something in life not just sit and commit crimes

Anonymous said...

“Learned at home”

Anonymous said...

JPS was already seriously behind in all academic areas before the pandemic. It's run by people who place priority on being politically wedded to the national teacher's union and liberal social constructs. When surrounding districts placed top priority on keeping kids in the classroom, JPS placed priority on adhering to the party line and teacher's union directives. They kept the kids at home. Broken homes in many cases. This was done even against the interest of the most vulnerable kids. They just don't get it.

Anonymous said...


All the suggestions above are wrong and have absolutely no merit......

You know good and well that the only way this problem can be fixed is to throw a bunch more money at it!

Anonymous said...

"What paying customers would tolerate this from any service/product out in the real world?"

Apparently even the "paying customers" that live in the City of Jackson yet send their kids and money to private schools while funding JPS with their property taxes. That's who. And er'body else that pays property taxes, kids or no kids, and a whole bunch of them that are renters and have no clue where part of their rent payments go.

Anonymous said...

Paid to fail

Anonymous said...

As long as the teachers and school faculty were paid and the free meals were delivered nothing else matters.
They know what is important.

Anonymous said...

The answer to most all of these threads is for people to wait to have kids until BOTH parents are financially and emotionally ready to take care of them. This would solve so many social problems.

Krusatyr said...

Hello 2:37
I know my above list works, I did it as a child and required same discipline for my kids also. Yes some JPS youth are lost: idea is to make their striving, successful peers role models for the rest.

Anonymous said...

"my plumber made over 750k last yr."

Sounds like bullshit to me. ONE plumber makes "over 750k"?

Gee, two MDs with a combined 50 years of experience didn't make half that here.

Anonymous said...

That is what $10,000/year per kid will get you. Let’s throw more $$ at the problem. *eye roll*

Anonymous said...

When black kids stive to do well in school, they are bullied and called Uncle Toms by the black thugs.

Anonymous said...

@5:13
I don’t know about “repair” plumbers buy uncle is a construction plumber and earned over million dollars a year doing construction plumbing work up until 2008 during the construction boom. However, work has been a bit slow since Xi’s puppet was installed by the traitor media and seditious democrats.

Anonymous said...

Nothing gets the “family moral values” crowd that populates this blog more excited than kicking little kids while they’re down, am I right?

Anonymous said...

@5:13 8 employees billing $100 an hour on average is roughly 1.5 million a year at 40 hours a week. If each employee other than the owner costs $60k that's only 420k in labor expense. Parts costs are passed on to the consumer through billing (with markup). I can definitely see a small plumbing company with 4 trucks staffed with 8 employees grossing 750k after expenses, especially after factoring in after hours and holiday billing rates.

Anonymous said...

Look at the decline in enrollment too…around 1500 fewer elementary kids in JPS…wonder where they all went and why…

Anonymous said...

Phil had the chance to fix this but he didn’t have the guts to take on JPS, totally failure for a Governor that prided himself in education policy.

Anonymous said...

Agree that Phil had his chance. Hope Tater follows through.

Anonymous said...

“This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased.”

Anonymous said...

7:08 wants you to all use less upsetting words for the benefit of the kids.

I mean, who can argue with the results of the last 20 years of ultra soft-parenting?


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In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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