By Josh Mitchell
Corinth Today News Editor
The Corinth School District’s appeal of its state accountability grades was denied Thursday by the Mississippi Board of Education.
The Corinth School District argued that the accountability grades it received from the state were not an accurate reflection of its academic standing. Corinth High School received an “unofficial” F grade, and the district as a whole was given an unofficial C for 2018.
At issue was the special Cambridge education program used by the Corinth School District, which is established as a District of Innovation.
In its appeal, the Corinth School District argued that the state’s accountability model was “not consistent” with the Cambridge program and would “not truly reflect the educational advancements of CSD students.”
The district argued that it was supposed to have a “modified accountability model” that was consistent with its special Cambridge curriculum. But an alternative accountability model was never developed, and the school district was given “unofficial” accountability grades based on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program used by other schools.
The Mississippi Department of Education denied the school district’s request for a separate accountability model due to a change in federal law. The Every Student Succeeds Act, which took effect in 2017, requires a “single statewide accountability system,” the state department of education stated in a letter to CSD Superintendent Lee Childress in June.
Based on the changes in federal law, the Corinth School District was given “unofficial” accountability grades for the 2017-2018 school year. But starting this year, the accountability results for the district will be official.
The school district said its composite ACT score of 20.9 for the 2018 graduating class was higher than the state and national averages and that its graduation rate is higher than the state average.
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