The results of Mississippi’s statewide assessment of learning in pre-K and kindergarten show the majority of the state’s youngest students continue to make significant gains during the academic year.
Kindergarteners take a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment in the fall and spring of each school year. In fall 2018, 36.9% of students scored kindergarten ready. When kindergarteners were retested in the spring of 2019, 65.6% of students met the end-of-year target score.
“Mississippi kindergarten teachers are continuing to do an outstanding job helping students build the foundational literacy skills they need to be successful in their education,” Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said in a Thursday release. “Reading instruction must remain a major focus through the third grade so that all children complete elementary school with strong reading skills.”
Every district in the state showed progress among their kindergarten classes, though student achievement varied. Average scores among schools ranged from 603 to 808. The state-average score was 711 and the state-average gain was 210.
Local Results
The target end-of-year score for kindergarten is 681. This score categorizes students as transitional readers. Students scoring at this level are beginning to read unfamiliar words and easy reader material but are not yet independent readers.
Progress in kindergarten remained steady from 2016-17 to 2018-19, with more than 65% of kindergarteners meeting the end-of-year target score each year.
Kindergarteners in the Webster County School District had an average score of 724, which falls within the transitional reader range. This represents a scale score gain of 254 from the fall semester. At each elementary school, the average score was 722 at East Webster (a 248-point gain) and 725 at Eupora Elementary (a 259-point gain).
Evaluates Skills
The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment evaluates skills such as the ability to recognize letters and match letters to their sounds and a student’s recognition that print flows from left to right. The exam produces reports for parents and teachers that detail each child’s early reading skills. Teacher reports also include diagnostic information and instructional plans for every student.
Pre-K students in the state’s Early Learning Collaboratives and other public pre-K classes for 4-year-olds also maintained gains on the Pre-Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
The Webster County School District has received a state-funded Blended Prekindergarten Grant to offer an education to its first-ever 4-year-old students beginning next month.
