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The annual report released by SREB, which analyzes data and trends in schools from Virginia to Oklahoma, shows improvement in our state across all levels.
Blake Wilson, executive director of the Mississippi Economic Council and the state's leading business-community spokesman, said, "It's important to celebrate the small victories because small victories and progress become exponential progress over time."
While progress has been made, much more must be done, including providing adequate funding for progress during Mississippi's continuing recession economy.
The report shows encouraging results on several fronts:
- Fourth-grade reading: 55 percent of students scored at or above the Basic Level in 2009, up 4 percentage points (the largest increase in the nation) from 2007 and 6 points from 2003.
- Fourth-grade math: 69 percent of students scored at or above the Basic Level in 2009, up 7 percentage points from 2003.
- Eighth-grade math: 54 percent of students scored at or above the Basic Level in 2009, up 7 percentage points from 2003.
- Eighth-grade reading: 62 percent of students scored at or above the Basic Level in 2009, slightly down 3 percentage points from 2003.
- Increasing the composite ACT score and the number of students taking the ACT from 1999 to 2009.
"If children are not prepared early on in their educational career, it is likely that they will not be prepared to graduate from high school or lead a successful, productive adult life," State Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham said. "Celebrating progress, eliminating disparity and growing our state economy depends on the ability of our educational systems at all levels continuing to work together."
As MEC's Wilson summarized, "We have players on base, and we have to bring them home."
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