The Mississippi Department of Education released the high school algebra and English II scores on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests students took last school year, and Vicksburg Warren School District has come in slightly below state average.

The test measures how well students have mastered the new Mississippi College and Career-Ready Standards. Because the test and standards were both much more rigorous than what Mississippi previously used, scores were expected to dramatically drop. They did not drop as much as expected, however.

Students were each placed in a category based on their scores on the algebra I and English II tests. They range from Level 1 up through Level 5, which indicate minimal, partial, adequate, strong and distinguished understanding, respectively.

Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Chad Shealy said the district scored a level 3 for English II, which is adequate understanding.

“If we are on par with the state average, that means we have to be somewhere in the midrange,” he said. “But we’re talking about an assessment that we will never take again.”

Shealy said he’s looking forward to getting the test scores for grades three through eight, which will come in later this month, adding younger students in the county have traditionally scored higher than the high school students.

“I see this test as hitting the reset button and giving us a new baseline,” said State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright. “We expected an implemental dip, and there was a dip, but it wasn’t as big as we thought it would be.

“We’re only going up from here. These scores show our children are just as capable or more capable of performing than students across the nation. That is very encouraging.”

The students took the test developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a multiple-state consortium formed to create a common test to measure how well students understood the new Common Core State Standards.

In Mississippi, those standards have morphed into the current Mississippi College and Career-Ready Standards.

Although it was the first year Mississippi students took the PARCC test, it also will be the last.

The state pulled out of the PARCC consortium last year because of political controversy.

This makes the test scores difficult to quantify, Shealy said.

“Essentially you need a baseline and that baseline establishes a starting point, then you run the race again and make a statement about growth within that time frame,” he said. “Where we currently sit, it doesn’t yield itself to that.”

This year, students will take a test developed by Minnesota-based Questar.

“Even though the PARCC assessment is only going to be used one year, we encourage schools to use their results because the standards will still be the standards,” Wright said.

Mississippi eventually will be able to compare its scores to other states in the PARCC consortium. It won’t know that for sure until PARCC officially releases scores from all states, but Wright said based on what she has read in newspapers from other states in the PARCC group, Mississippi’s scores may rank second to only Ohio.

The statewide results were: (Level 5 is distinguished understanding or advanced; level 4 is strong understanding or proficient; level three is adequate understanding; level 2 is partial understanding; level 1 in minimal understanding.)

ALGEBRA I with 40,536 test takers

Level 1…. 11.6 percent

Level 2….30.4 percent

Level 3….30.5 percent

Level 4….26.3 percent

Level 5….1.1 percent

ENGLISH II with 32,498 test takers

Level 1….11.6 percent

Level 2…..15.8 percent

Level 3…..23.3 percent

Level 4…..36.6 percent

Level 5…..12.8 percent

 

The Vicksburg Warren School District results were:

ALGEBRA I with 892 test takers

Level 1…. 28.1 percent

Level 2….47.0 percent

Level 3….20.4 percent

Level 4….4.5 percent

Level 5….0.0 percent

ENGLISH II with 558 test takers

Level 1….15.1 percent

Level 2…..21.0 percent

Level 3…..25.4 percent

Level 4…..31.7 percent

Level 5…..6.8 percent

 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.