A special meeting of the Columbus Municipal School Board of Trustees this week revealed some troubling news when it comes to the district’s efforts to meet new requirements passed by the Mississippi legislature earlier this year.
According to data CMSD Superintendent Dr. Philip Hickman shared with board members Wednesday, less than a third of the city’s third-graders are reading at or above grade level.
In this year’s session, legislators passed a law championed by Gov. Phil Bryant that requires all third-graders to read at grade level before being promoted to fourth grade.
According to the results of an assessment Hickman shared with the board members, 134 of the city’s 422 third-graders are meeting that standard.
“There are interventions going on right now,” Hickman told the board. “Our priority has been to identify those kids who need help and we are meeting the guidelines set up by the state for intervention. Obviously, we want to get as many kids reading on grade level as we possibly can.”
Based on its reading assessment, there are currently 36 third-grade students in the district’s five elementary schools who are receiving “urgent intervention.” Another 134 students are classified for “intervention,” while 94 students are classified as being “on watch.”
Hickman said first and second graders have also been assessed to determine how many students are reading at grade level. Of 378 first-graders, 174 are reading at grade level (46 percent) while second-graders are faring much better as a whole. Almost 53 percent (179 of 338 students) are reading at or above grade-level.
“We just received these assessments, so we’re starting a little later that we would like,” Hickman said. “But the important thing is that we’re being aggressive on this and we are taking the steps necessary to get as many kids at grade level.”
In other board business, the board voted unanimously to purchase technology upgrades in the amount of $889,408.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.