Public School's resume State Testing 2 years after COVID

Back in the Spring of 2020 Public Schools were closed and State Tests were not administered but now two years later public schools are now preparing their students for the state test.

Due to the COVID Pandemic, it has been two years since the Public School has been graded on their students’ performances. The State uses the Accountability Model to grade public schools with an A- F letter grade. With testing beginning this week for some.

Janet Fortner, the Director of Curriculum for the Meridian Public School District had this to say, “Nothing has changed in the way that we educate students in Meridian we still require those high expectations of our students and teachers. We are still teaching students every day and just working hard for them to be successful at the end of the year at the State Assessment.

Fortner says that the model will be changing due to the impact of covid which will impact the accountability model and explained how they will be graded.

“Well, the State's Assessment is graded on five performance levels. You have level one being the minimum, level two the basic and level 3 pass and level 4 proficient, and level five advance, and our goal is for our students to be proficient with a level four or higher,” said Fortner.

To prepare students for the assessment Fortner says the schools have been working hard and diligently and providing interventions and after-school programs.

Fortner said, ”MDE will be providing resources to help with the learning loss by providing an online subscription and we do have online live tutoring 24/7 and more of those programs will be coming out later. We are working with MDE for additional resources that will be provided for students and parents.”

Fortner says Parents have a role to play in making sure all students are ready and prepared on the day of testing, by being well-rested, on time to school, and have had breakfast on testing day.