More than half of Mississippi schools and their districts performed well in the 2025-2026 school year under higher standards, a new report from the Department of Education found.
According to state officials, under the new, higher standards for earning grades, 53.9% of schools and 50.7% of districts earned a grade of A or B last school year. These higher standards are meant to ensure Mississippi’s future is built on general intelligence, not just the ability to pass one test. Therefore, no grades from previous years can be compared to charge growth or decline.
the MDE says that state law requires that standards for student, school and district performance increase when student proficiency rates exceed 75% or when 65% of schools or districts earn a grade of B or higher. Mississippi met this threshold in 2023, with 74% of schools and 71% of earned a B or higher. From there, the MDE began the two-year process of resetting the standards.
“Raising academic standards is required by state law because it is an essential part of ensuring Mississippi students and schools continue to improve academically each year,” said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education.
Accountability grades help teachers, parents, and communities know how their schools are performing and how the districts are serving their students. The components for the new standards include:
- Student proficiency and growth rates from statewide assessments of English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3-8
- Growth of the lowest performing 25% of students in ELA and mathematics
- Science proficiency in grades 5 and 8
- English Learner progress toward becoming proficient in the English language
- Performance on high school assessments in Algebra I, English II and Biology
- Four-year graduation rate
- A new Readiness Index for high schools and districts, which counts results on the ACT, SAT, ACT WorkKeys and Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Advanced Placement, dual credit and dual enrollment courses; career and technical education programs; industry certifications; diploma endorsements; and on-time and five-year graduation
According to the MDE, the accountability grades are largely comprised of data from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. Those results, released on Aug. 20, 2026, showed overall growth in science, stable performance in ELA, and a slight downtick in math proficiency.
“To address learning gaps, the MDE sought funds from the Legislature during the 2026 regular session to create statewide math and adolescent literacy initiatives,” the MDE wrote in a release. “The state Legislature appropriated $3.45 million in 2026-27 to strengthen math instruction and $9 million for adolescent literacy, while continuing its $5 million annual appropriation for overall math initiatives and $15 million annually toward the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in grades K-3.”
The MDE said that 31 of Mississippi’s 148 school districts earned an A for 2025-26. The five highest-performing districts were Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Clinton, Long Beach, Ocean Springs, and Enterprise.
In 2016, the State Board of Education set the standard that all schools and districts need to be rated C or higher. 62% of Mississippi schools and districts met that in 2016, and even under the higher standards in 2025-26, 79.7% of schools and 82.4% of districts earned a grade of C or higher.
The MDE notes that persistently underperforming districts may face charter schools opening in their communities or state takeover. State law allows charter schools to apply to open in areas where the district is rated D or F. In 2025-26, 16 traditional districts and eight of the nine charter schools earned a D or F.
“Improving districts that have faced challenges for many years takes time, and there are no quick fixes,” Dr. Evans said. “Holmes County Consolidated and Noxubee County school districts have shown what sustained effort can produce. I am confident that all Districts of Transformation will continue to make progress toward higher student outcomes over the long term.”
Mississippi’s nationally recognized rise in education over the past decade is evident in the raising of the Magnolia State’s school standards, according to the MDE. In 2026, Mississippi was ranked 16th in the nation for education by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book, a stark improvement from being 48th in 2014.
The MDE credits this rise in education not only to the raised standards, but to the support from teachers statewide to help students reach these higher standards.
“The 2025-26 grades set a strong baseline for continued progress for schools and districts across the state,” Dr. Evans said. “As we maintain high academic standards, continue to provide support for teachers and leaders, and ensure a strong accountability system, there is no limit to what Mississippi students can accomplish.”