The song remains the same for Jackson and Canton public schools are the release of the third grade reading test results. Jackson continued to underachieve as it had the 11th worse reading-gate score in the state as it ranked lower than last year. More concerning is their failure to return to their performance prior to the Covid-19 shutdowns. Coincidentally, they also shut down longer than the other public school districts.
Hinds enjoyed the the biggest improvement as it rose from 63% in 2024 to 70% this year. The rest of the school districts in the Jackson metro area remained close to where they performed last year. However, there is one disturbing pattern that emerges from the data.
School, score, (2025) (2024)(2023)(2022)(2019)
Canton: 62% (62%) (71%)(62%)(72%)
Clinton: 89% (88%) (86%)(90%)(86%)
Hinds County: 70% (63%) (68%)(71%)(67%)
JPS: 55% (54%) (67%)(61%)(64%)
Madison County: 89% (92%) (89%)(90%)(91%)
Pearl: 87% (91%) (92%)(87%)(89%)
Rankin County: 89% (89%) (87%)(84%)(83%)
2019 is the last year when the third-grade reading tests were administered before the Covid shutdowns. The public school districts that remained closed the longest, Canton and Jackson, still have not seen their third-grade reading scores recover to their 2019 scores. Heck, the scores aren't even close as they are both ten points lower than they were in 2019. Three districts, Clinton, Hinds County, and Rankin County, are performing above their 2019 scores.
Such results should not surprise anyone. Jackson and Canton kept their students out of the classrooms until MDE forced their hand, long after other public schools reopened. Political leaders (looking at you, Mayor Lumumba) made little effort to get the kids back in the classrooms as they fell behind. They screamed they were following the science as they ignored the science. The children had much lower infection rates, transmission rates, and hospitalization rates than adults during the pandemic. Studies showed closing the classrooms stunted their development and learning. Yes, the road was rocky as the covid-19 virus forced the other schools to shut down at times but those school districts remained committed to keeping the kids in the classroom and did so with community support. The scores show the wisdom of that strategy.
How poorly did Jackson public schools perform? Read and weep.
>60% Failure: 3 schools
>50% Failure: 6 schools
>40% Failure: 5 schools
>30% Failure: 2 schools
>20% Failure: 1 school
Thus 17 of 21 schools suffered failure rates of more than 20% among third graders taking the reading test. 2/3 of the schools saw more than 40% of their students flunk the test.
Maybe it's not fair to compare JPS to other area public schools. After all, JPS is nearly 100$% black and there are much higher levels of poverty among its students. Fair enough. Let's compare apples to apples.
Hattiesburg: 82%
Greenville: 70%
What is even more troubling for JPS and Canton is how Hattiesburg and Greenville's scores rose substantially from 2019.
Hattiesburg: 65%
Greenville: 54%
Even Meridian's public schools jumped from 51% in 2019 to 62% in 2025. Meridian public schools are 92% black. Hattiesburg schools are 83% black while Greenville's schools are 98% black.
Kingfish note: Clearly Jackson and Canton's third grade reading problems are not caused by race and poverty when other school districts with similar demographics are outperforming them.
20 comments:
The one aspect of elementary education easily accomplished at home is reading. Unless the parents are illiterate.
Cap Police, JXN Water, and Jackson citizens voting out the Mayor have Jackson going in the right direction.
JPS has appeared to have improved slightly under the current superintendent.. Nevertheless, it may be time to bite the bullet, and have the State take over JPS.
How many of the ACLU, SPLC, etc. types that will fuss actually have kids in JPS and not at McWillie or Obama?
Covid, and the associated shutdowns, are not the reason for Canton's reading failure. Let's just be honest about that. It starts at home and lack of parental incentive.
Except other districts with similar demographics are doing better.
The WuFlu has nothing to do with the lag, it has always existed. Poor parenting skills are to blame. Its kind of like leaning on a shovel and praying for a hole….
Clinton and Pearl absorbed quite a few students that came over from JPS and they continue to turn in high marks. There may be a lesson to be learned from that type of success.
Read what? TicTok? Twinkie labels?
What you cowardly bigots are afraid to say is that this is a Black issue. But like KF says, districts with similar demographics aren’t struggling. So it isn’t the demographics of the students. Why be so racist and ignorant when you can just be quiet?
The JPS students who are living with auntie in Ridgeland are doing just fine.
JPS administration is determined to follow the dictates of teachers' unions which have wrecked inner city schools all over the country. The union's concerns have nothing to do with academic improvement only gaining concessions for teachers and administrators who want more money for less work. Because these unions are wedded to the Democratic party the leadership of Jackson is wedded to them. They adopted the suicidal policy of closure during the Covid crisis. JPS will only do better when it decides to prioritize academics over politics. It can be done.
How many generations of JPS students have poor education at each level, poor graduation rates, high dropout rates? May be endemic in Jackson.
There isn’t really a union for JPS employees.
I read more books during the scamdemic lockdowns than during the decade prior. I also made a lot of money trading crypto currencies. I guess poors sat around doom scrolling brain rot instead of finding productive ways to use their time.
Taking the kids out of school for covid just tells them school doesn't matter. The cultures of these failing schools don't really value an education. They want something for nothing and feel the world owes them something in return. It's truly pathetic and it won't change because of the lack of values and ethics. This certain group doesn't care to coexist with others. We need to get back to a law and order society. Skin color be damned. Bring back stop and frisk also.
1:00 That fact is what makes the whole thing so stupid. They are still determined to follow the dictates of Chicago, LA, Atlanta, etc even if they don't have to.
Ain't got shit to do with 'Covid Shutdown'. You proved that with your last post.
Doesn't JPS receive far more funds per student than DeSoto and Madison counties?
Even the best teacher can't teach a student who lacks the ability to learn the material being taught. And, there's more than a little research indicating that poverty and the child's home environment is a factor in performance. A statistician also knows that data can be misused to make comparison and that one year to the next is a meaningless comparison and longer still if the test "samples" are different.
Politics is making us dumber and dumber. The parties seem to have succeeded in convincing you to let then do all your thinking. Yep...results in Parrot Brain.
Except Mississippi has NO teachers' unions. Try again.
Gerard tole us every day that school choice will solve these prollems. And the Mississippi Center for Public Pronouns 10-4'd him.
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