After a few tumultuous years of state assessment grades, the Laurel School District is trending in the right direction. The Mississippi Department of Education approved official grades for the state’s school districts, with Laurel earning a C overall after registering an F grade in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 assessments. The department did not release school district grades in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grades are part of the state’s accountability system, which helps teachers, school leaders, parents and communities know how well local schools and districts are serving students. Laurel School District Superintendent Dr. Toy Watts credited the improvement to the progress students made during the 2021-22 school year, when the district was recovering from the effects of the pandemic. The district’s grade from 2021-22 is the highest grade the school district has received since 2015.
The district improved 8.7 percent in English Language and Arts. Math Proficiency went up 13.8 percent. College and Career increased by 9.6 percent. Science Proficiency went up 11.3 percent. U.S. History improved by 8.1 percent and Acceleration went up 4.8 percent.
As for individual schools in the district, Laurel High School went from an F to a C, Laurel Middle School improved from F to D, Laurel Upper Elementary remained a D, Laurel Magnet School of Arts maintained its A grade, Oak Park Elementary School improved from D to a C and Mason Elementary School remained a D.
“One thing we wanted to stress to all of our teachers, administrators and faculty is that while we are pleased with the strides we made during the 2021-22 school year, we are not satisfied with a C,” Watts said. “Our goal is continued improvement and to continuously strive to serve our students better.”
With the improvement, Watts said that it brings a sense of relief and that it could not have been done without a total community effort.
“Excited, validated and relieved are just a few words to describe the feeling when we got the scores back,” she said. “We worked really hard to get to where we are. It has taken a total buy-in from everyone – parents, teachers, community leaders, students and administrators – to get to where we are.”
For a full statewide subject-by-subject breakdown of each school’s individual performances, visit the Mississippi Department of Education’s website at mdek12.org.
In the Jones County schools, West came out just ahead of South with Northeast Jones at a distant third. East Jones came out a point ahead of West in the elementary schools, but Moselle had the highest score in the county there. All had a B. South Jones and Glade Elementary — which has been the top scorer among local elementary schools in recent years — was last, but both had a C.
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