Tupelo Public School District earns 'A' rating from MDE
Sep. 29—TUPELO — The Tupelo Public School District has earned a rare A rating from the Mississippi Department of Education.
Seven Tupelo schools maintained the same accountability grade they received in the 2018-19 school year — all of them A's and B's — while Joyner Elementary, Lawndale Elementary, Rankin Elementary and Tupelo Middle each improved to an A rating, up from a B. Pierce Street Elementary was the only school to have its grade drop, from an A to a B.
Across the district, eight schools are A-rated and the other four are B-rated for an overall A rating for the district.
Accountability grades for the 2021-22 school year were approved by the State Board of Education on Thursday morning. It's the first time since the 2018-19 school year that new grades have been assigned to Mississippi schools.
TPSD Superintendent Rob Picou said the 2021-22 accountability rating represents a lot of hard work by the administration team, teachers, support staff and students to achieve growth and proficiency on the state's Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP).
"However, if we only base our accountability on the state's letter grade, some might argue we do not need to improve because we are an A or that the state's rating tells the entire story of any one school," Picou said. "We all know great learning occurs in B-rated schools and there is room for improvement in both B and A-rated schools."
The superintendent said there are plenty of learning opportunities that simply can't be measured by a standardized test.
"I stand firm in my belief that, while I am very excited about the A rating because it does represent hard work, the amazing staff and students of TPSD are bigger than any one letter grade," Picou said.
Though Mississippi's overall accountability grades appear to have improved significantly since 2019, the Mississippi Department of Education has advised caution when interpreting score changes between the 2018-19 pre-pandemic and 2021-22 school years as shifts in student performance may prove temporary. Mississippi teachers made more progress than typically seen in a single year as schools focused on accelerating learning to address learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I want to congratulate the administrators, teachers, students, and the community for achieving an A-rating," Paul Mize III, president of the TPSD Board of Trustees, said. "Our district has been and will continue to put in the hard work necessary to provide an exceptional educational experience. I want to thank our wonderful community; without the support of our parents and citizens, this would not have been possible. This rating is an indication of the amazing work our district is doing and should be celebrated."
TPSD was one of 45 districts across the state to receive an A. Other A-rated districts across Northeast Mississippi include Union County, New Albany, Alcorn, Oxford, Lafayette County, Monroe County, Booneville, Prentiss County, Itawamba County, Pontotoc City, Pontotoc County, Chickasaw County and Tishomingo County.
A total of 248 Mississippi schools earned an A rating, including eight in Tupelo.
"The last couple of years have been challenging, to say the least, but we did not let that deter us from accomplishing our goal of becoming an A school," TMS principal Mark Enis said. "This accomplishment is a testament to the hard work of our students, teachers and staff at Tupelo Middle School. We want to celebrate our success from this past school year, but now we must work ever harder to sustain our A."
Mississippi schools and districts are graded on an A-F scale based on several components of student learning and growth, including proficiency in ELA, mathematics and science; English learner progress toward becoming proficient in the English language; performance on the ACT and high school end-of-course exams; student participation and performance in advanced coursework and the four-year graduation rate.
