Low-Income, Disabled Students Fall Behind

Staff reports

Student achievement gaps between economic subgroups continue to be an issue in Mississippi, the state department of education said Thursday.

For example, take a look at the Alcorn School District:

Almost 55 percent of students without economic disadvantages scored proficient on statewide English assessments last year compared to about 35 percent of economically disadvantaged children. That means there is an achievement gap between the two groups of 20 percent, which is up about 8 percent from the prior year.

Likewise, the school district also has an achievement gap between students with disabilities and those without.

Achievement gap data was not provided for the Corinth School District, which has a special status as a “district of innovation.”

Here is 2017 achievement gap data on the Alcorn School District.

English Language Arts

Students Without Disabilities: 47 percent proficient

Students With Disabilities: 18 percent proficient

Alcorn County Achievement Gap: 29 percentage

Math

Not Economically Disadvantaged: 56 percent proficient

Economically Disadvantaged: 36 percent proficient

Achievement Gap: 20 percent

Students Without Disabilities: 47 percent proficient

Students With Disabilities: 20 percent proficient

Alcorn County Achievement Gap: 27 percent

There were little or no figures available on achievement gaps between races for the Alcorn School District.

However, statewide there was a higher percentage of whites scoring proficient on the math and English tests compared to African Americans and Hispanics. But the percentage of Asians scoring proficient on the assessments was higher than whites.

Statewide, the achievement gap between whites and African Americans on the English and math tests was 29 percent. The gap statewide for students with disabilites is about 25 percent, and it is about 28 percent for the economically disadvantaged.

“The state has set ambitious goals to close the achievement gap over the next 10 years, and it will take aggressive and coordinated efforts to accomplish these goals,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education.