Statewide, Coast Pre-K readiness on the rise

South Mississippi pre-kindergarten students outpace their counterparts across the state in large measure, according to a recent report from the Mississippi Department of Education.

On Thursday, MDE released results of kindergarten assessment tests that show the impact of pre-K instruction and readiness in the state and on the Coast.

Overall, students surpassed the state’s target assessment score this fall, a sign that students who attended public or private pre-K programs “were more likely to start school prepared to learn than students who did not,” MDE said.

MDE’s “Kindergarten Readiness Assessment” seeks to provide an understanding of what children know and are able to do upon entering kindergarten, allowing education officials to then improve the quality of classroom instruction for students based on each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

Co-sponsored by Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, the “Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013,” was signed into law in 2013. It’s the first time the state has allocated funding for pre-K education.

Students are expected to earn a 530 or above at the beginning of kindergarten, which signifies mastery of state standards.

South Mississippi

MDE tracked average pre-K readiness assessment score averages twice during the 2014-15 school year, once in the fall and once in the spring. They did the same for fall of 2016, but an analysis of fall numbers alone does not provide an understanding of district growth. Rather, it shows how prepared students are for school when they enter kindergarten.

Unsurprisingly, all South Mississippi district scores increased from the fall to the spring.

The state average for fall of the 2014-2015 school year was 501, compared to 680 at the end of the school year.

Notable standouts included:

▪ Fourteen school district score averages were considered to be “transitional readers” which designates mastery of alphabet skills and letter-sound relationships.

▪ No school district made the “probable reader” classification, the highest state designation.

▪ Stone County kindergarten students had the highest overall score of all South Mississippi school districts with a final average of 739. The district’s scores from fall to spring increased by 238 points, the most of all districts.

▪ The Pascagoula - Gautier School District and Bay St. Louis - Waveland School Districts’ were closely behind with increases of 236 and 230 points respectively.

▪ Just one school district fell below the state average, even though it showed improvement through the school year. The Moss Point School District had a score of 484 to start the year, and ended with an average score of 645. The district improved by an average of 161 points.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Statewide, Coast Pre-K readiness on the rise."