Description: Effective with the 2014/15 school year, Mississippi adopted new academic standards and courses aligned to these new standards. The new courses included both a subject-specific mathematics sequence (that is, algebra I, geometry, and algebra II) as well as an integrated mathematics sequence (that is, integrated I, integrated II, and…

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2019 via RAND's American Educator Panels. The AIRS focused on instructional resources used and supported in English language arts,…

The purpose of this report is threefold: to provide a brief overview of national dropout issues--both data and risk factors, with emphasis on those in rural areas--and then focusing on the particular factors that have the greatest impact on students in Mississippi; present the critical challenges for rural areas; and finally to recommend…

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

As the teacher representative on the Mississippi Board of Education, the author often has the opportunity to hear about many educational programs and initiatives during their early stages of development. One particular initiative presented to the state board in 2010 was the Common Core State Standards. After reading and studying the standards, the…

By 2013, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted college- and career-ready standards in English language arts and mathematics, placing a greater emphasis on argument writing to prepare students for life after high school. Solving the specific problem of how to help teachers teach to new standards for argument writing as well as the…

Among education researchers, there is a growing consensus that college and career readiness depends on not just academic knowledge and skills but on a wide range of social and developmental competencies, as well--such as the ability to monitor one's own learning, persist at challenging tasks, solve complex problems, set realistic goals, and…

Research by Achieve, ACT, and others suggests that for high school graduates to be prepared for success in a wide range of postsecondary settings, they need to take four years of challenging mathematics--covering Advanced Algebra; Geometry; and data, probability, and statistics content--and four years of rigorous English aligned with college- and…

Effective school districts maintain superintendent and school board collegiality which can foster success and connectedness among members. Delagardelle and Alsbury (2008) found that superintendents and board members are not consistent in their perceptions about the work the board does, and Glass (2007) found that states do not require boards to…

Based on interviews with state officials in the six Southeast Region states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina), this study describes state processes for adopting the Common Core State Standards (a common set of expectations across states for what students are expected to know in English language arts and…

Based on interviews with state officials in the six Southeast Region states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina), this study describes state processes for adopting the Common Core State Standards (a common set of expectations across states for what students are expected to know in English language arts and…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement the Common Core and aligned assessments through professional learning. The major professional development efforts around the Common Core were examined in order to understand the overall efforts of each state. An exhaustive list of…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) are strategies designed to improve how teachers teach and students learn. The designs encourage teacher collaboration and creativity and offer flexible frameworks for building lessons in all disciplines. Their purpose is to engage students to read challenging…