JACKSON — Federal education officials say Mississippi won’t have to restructure its system for assigning A-to-F letter grades to public schools.
The U.S. Department of Education said in a news release Thursday that Mississippi’s plan provides transparency about how schools and districts are performing.
The federal department also said the Mississippi’s partnerships among public, private and Head Start programs for preschool children “will provide a solid foundation to prepare students for school.”
The notice that Mississippi’s plan was approved came months after the federal department originally rejected parts of the state’s accountability system. Federal authorities later said they would reconsider their rejection.
At issue was how the state calculates points to assign grades to schools. Establishing those scores is contentious, particularly because districts complain when the state changes rules in midstream.
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