Accreditation grades for schools and school districts around the state were released last week by the Mississippi Department of Education with less fanfare than in previous years.
Over the years, I’ve made clear in this space my distaste for the methods utilized to evaluate our schools, teachers and administrators – that primary method being standardized tests. Government leaders over the past few years have decided to tinker with the system which has produced a lot of confusion for all involved.
The latest report card shows that Calhoun County School District earned a B, as did Bruce High, Calhoun City Elementary and Vardaman Elementary. Bruce Upper Elementary, Calhoun City Middle and Vardaman High School each earned Cs.
Calhoun City High School, who recorded the district’s first ever F last year, improved to a D, and according to school officials, came within a couple of points of a C.
The grades, however, are neither a major point of celebration or concern because of the switch last year to Common Core, which depending on who you ask, is either the next great thing in education or the death knell.
While visiting with Superintendent Mike Moore Monday morning, his position is one of just needing consistency and funding from the state and federal governments. School leaders have gone through three straight years of transition with the state’s accountability system that causes a lot of pulling of hair for educators.
“Teachers are saying ‘just leave us alone and let us teach,’” Moore said.
Amen to that.
The unknowns of Common Core, pressures of state testing performance, and constant changes to a variety of mandated benchmarks are creating a teaching dilemma across the nation, in Mississippi, and here at home in Calhoun County.
The school district is losing veteran teachers at an alarming rate to early retirement, and there are not enough college students interested in a teaching career due to all the upheaval and the poor salaries to fill all the vacancies.
The few who are committed to entering the education field are naturally going to the largest school districts that can afford greater supplements to boost the paltry teacher pay offered by the state. Calhoun County isn’t one of those districts that can afford to boost supplements to the levels they need to be.
Our elected leaders can toy with the education standards all they want to. Until they get serious about paying teachers what they are worth and staying out of their way and letting them teach, we’re not going to see the improvements they demand.
Email Joel McNeece at joelmcneece@gmail.com & follow him on Twitter @joelmcneece