Eddie Glaude, Jr., is a Mississippi native, renowned author, political commentator and educator. Glaude was in Jackson as the speaker for the Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series held at the Two Mississippi Museums, Thursday, Apr. 28, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Mississippi native Eddie Glaude, one of the world’s leading thinkers and teachers on race, keeps bearing witness about America’s ugly, unacknowledged history and how it will shape our future.
For years, Glaude, a faculty leader at Princeton University, has channeled his upbringing and his academic studies to inspire Americans to think deeply about where the nation has been and where it’s headed.
And this weekend, Glaude will come home to do more of it when he headlines the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson. His most recent book “Begin Again” analyzes the past, present and future of America through the writings and life of James Baldwin.
This will be Glaude’s third trip home this calendar year. In May, he gave a stirring commencement address at Rust College, the historically Black institution in Holly Springs. A couple weeks earlier, he was in Jackson to deliver a powerful Medgar Wiley Evers lecture at the Two Mississippi Museums that attendees said was more akin to a sermon than a speech.
Touching on several Baldwin writings, a central theme of Glaude’s April lecture was that “the American idea is in trouble.”
“History matters because we carry it within us. And Mississippi is soaked in history,” Glaude said. “And as James Baldwin wrote, ‘It is in great pain and terror one that one begins to assess that history, which is placed one where one is and formed one’s point of view, because one enters into battle with that historical creation oneself.’”
Being largely unwilling to acknowledge our true past, Glaude says, is why so many Americans feel so uncertain about our future.
“We’re trapped in a history we refuse to know but carry within us,” Glaude said. “And Baldwin says this is the root of our unadmitted sorrow. The terrors and panic we experience have everything to do with the gap between who we imagine ourselves to be and who, deep down, we really are. The fact that we evade that question locks us into a kind of perpetual adolescence.”
Glaude continued: “I come from a tradition that offers a story of the country that forces it to confront its ugliness, to in fact urge the country to grow the hell up. We have to live close to the ground if we’re gonna change. We have to understand the power of everyday ordinary people, to imagine a better future. We have to tell ourselves the truth in order to release us into a different way of being in the world. We have to tell the truth to Gov. Tate Reeves, tell the truth to Joe Biden. As long as we view racial equality as a philanthropic enterprise, as long as we view racial justice as an act of charity, we’re in trouble still.”
Watch Glaude’s lecture at the Two Mississippi Museums on April 28:
We have had the pleasure of staying at a lot of locations throughout the country but it is very hard to match what we experienced at WestGate Luxury Condominiums in Tuscaloosa!
Location: if being near campus or downtown Tuscaloosa are requirements for you, then look no further than Westgate. This luxury condo literally sits in the shadow of Bryant-Denny Stadium and is mere feet from the campus. Additionally, you can walk to The Strip for restaurants or nightlife. Westgate is centrally located to everything in Tuscaloosa, including downtown., making it spot you’ll love to call home during your stay.
Luxurious/Amenities: there’s no denying that WestGate is luxurious! In addition to the Wolf and SubZero appliances, every condo has quartz countertops, glass tile backsplashes, and hardwood floors. The luxuries do not stop here! Each condominium also has a private balcony that allows visitors to get up close and personal on game days by immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of SEC and Alabama football!
Skygate Club and Terrace: Almost a replica of the benefits skybox visitors get at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the SkyGate Club and Terrace is 9,000 feet of rooftop fun! This incredible space allows WestGate owners and their guests a prime-time location to tailgate and experience gameday in Tuscaloosa!
Unique and spacious floorplans: So many times, you rent a condo and they have been hyped up so much that you are not sure what you are getting. That is not the case at WestGate! The condos can range from 2 to 5 bedrooms, with the penthouse suites hosting the latter. Each condo, regardless of the number of bedrooms, offers one of the most incredible experiences you will ever have, including being spacey and offering one of the best nights away from your home ever!
Covered Parking: Parking safely and close to your accommodations is something visitors can expect at Westgate! In addition to on-site parking in front of the building there is also covered parking, which does require a badge to enter. The covered parking lot leads right to the elevator to get you into the building.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital will delay resuming inpatient operations even after clean-up efforts related to a sewage leak have been completed, hospital officials announced Thursday.
Officials cited the hospital’s precarious financial position as the cause of the shutdown.
“The hospital continues to be on diversion and is temporarily delaying the re-opening of inpatient services,” the press release stated. “Further analysis is required to determine with labor shortages and higher labor costs how we can continue to operate while remaining viable until a lease is finalized.”
Questions about the number of employees affected by the shutdown of inpatient services were not immediately answered by hospital officials.
The hospital said it had received approval by the Mississippi State Department of Health for the repairs to the underground crawl space the sewage had seeped into earlier this week, and that it is now safe to resume normal operations.
The clinics inside the hospital are reopening and outpatient services, including surgeries, laboratory and radiological testing have resumed.
On Monday, clogged manholes forced sewage into the crawl space below the hospital. As a result, at least 17 patients were transferred to six other hospitals across Mississippi and one hospital in Arkansas. At least 16 patients were discharged.
Despite the sewage problem, the hospital has continued to operate its labor and delivery unit, emergency department and the clinics located outside of the main hospital building.
The hospital, which is jointly owned by Leflore County and the city of Greenwood, laid off 30 people in May to offset losses during the pandemic. It announced in June that it is in talks with the University of Mississippi Medical Center on a joint operation agreement.
“GLH began the process of seeking affiliation partners as the hospital emerged from the Delta and Omicron waves of the pandemic,” the hospital said in a June press release. “Affiliation, particularly with a larger system like UMMC, the state’s only academic medical center and largest hospital, can result in cost efficiencies that are necessary to attain sustainable operations over the long term.”
UMMC declined to comment on the potential lease agreement.
The 208-bed facility is one of the largest employers in Leflore County with 770 employees.
Wicker, Doty, Berke announce broadband grant in the amount of $8,433,633.26 to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
On Thursday, Special Representative for Broadband Andy Berke of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Executive Director Sally Doty of the Mississippi BEAM Office hosted a roundtable discussion with internet service providers in Mississippi about broadband funding opportunities from the NTIA.
Before the roundtable discussion, Berke, Wicker, and Doty held a media availability where they discussed the award of a broadband grant in the amount of $8,433,633.26 to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians as a part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
“Today we’re happy to announce a grant to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians,” Senator Wicker said. “This is going to be one of the first opportunities for us to make sure that we have broadband in the entire tribal community and start that right here in Mississippi today.”
The Mississippi Senator said that this is one of the investments in broadband that will be brought to the State of Mississippi as a result of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 and also the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Senator Wicker said Burke will be working “hand in glove” with Director Doty on Mississippi’s broadband build-out.
Burke noted that the $8.4 million will make sure that roughly 2,200 households in the Choctaw area are connected.
“2,200 households will be connected as a result of this grant, an amazing opportunity,” Burke said. “We have $3 billion total to connect tribal Americans. Now this is incredible because for many decades now, they have been left out of this process.”
Burke said $3 billion – $2 billion of which came through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $1 billion through the appropriations act – “is going to be transformative for those entities.”
“This is only part of an ongoing process,” Burke continued. “The state of Mississippi is going to develop a plan that ensures that every single person in the state is connected… When that happens, we then have funding to do that.”
The Special Representative for Broadband of the NTIA said that it is not just about the connection, but also about the affordability, devices, and skills. Burke said that the first step is about making sure that every American has access at their homes.
“A hundred years ago, Mississippi saw what rural electrification meant to the state. Today, we’re experiencing a similar type of move to see how broadband is going to change rural Mississippi,” Burke stated.
When asked about the importance of making sure that people have access to broadband, Senator Wicker said that it has everything to do with the new way that we compete, do business, educate, provide medicine, and more.
“It’s part of the new economy and I view it as a way to address the ‘brain drain’ that some of us have had in small towns,” Wicker said. “We love to educate our students. We sure hate it when they decide that they need to live in a big city like Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas or Houston.”
The Mississippi Senator continued to say that with broadband access, a Mississippian can grow up, be educated here or go out of state for education, and come back to Mississippi and be part of every opportunity that the internet gives us.
“It’s absolutely essential,” Wicker said. “We tried to do this in Congress about two decades ago and it didn’t get the job done… We are absolutely determined that this time, will be different and we will get broadband to every household and every business.”
Executive Director Doty of the Mississippi BEAM Office said that it is their intent to reach all unserved areas of Mississippi.
“There are a lot of opportunities, but there is a lot of hard work ahead and it is not going to be instantaneous,” Doty said. “We’re going to need a little time.”
PSC heard from Mississippi’s major utilities, industry experts on how the global market is affecting utility rates for customers in the state.
On Thursday, August 18, 2022, the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) conducted an open meeting “work session” on the topic of Global Fuel Markets and its Impact on Utility Rates.
During the special meeting, Southern District Commissioner and Chairman Dane Maxwell along with his fellow Public Service Commissioners heard presentations from Mississippi’s major utilities and industry experts on how the global market is affecting utility rates for customers in the state.
Chairman Maxwell said that he called this work session in order to hear directly from Mississippi’s major utilities about where they stand financially and economically, and how global impacts like rising gas prices will affect Mississippians both today and moving forward.
“With everything going on in the country and globally, it is difficult to accurately forecast future costs, but we wanted to be proactive and prepared to work on keeping rates as low as possible,” Maxwell stated.
Presentations were given by representatives of Atmos Energy, CenterPoint Energy, Entergy Mississippi, Mississippi Power Company, and United Professionals Company on issues concerning:
Current and future fuel and natural gas costs
Fuel diversity
Company plans and projections
Maxwell added that it is important for Mississippi to have diverse energy sources and he has encouraged the companies to keep all fuel options on the table to better their chances of levelized costs for Mississippi customers.
The Inflation Reduction Act has just committed $350 billion to combat climate change. The Act, approved by Congress last week, also contains provisions to penalize companies that produce excess methane gas, a key contributor to global warming.
“Great!” you might say. “At last something serious is being done about greenhouse gasses.”
If we are serious about cutting methane emissions, before beating up on businesses or clamping down on cows, we should be looking to do something about the tens of thousands of government-owned oil and gas wells that lie abandoned across America.
Why? These orphan wells, drilled by businesses that have long since ceased to operate them, are one of the biggest sources of methane emission. Publicly owned, but for practical purposes simply abandoned, many of them have been cheerfully spewing out methane for years.
According to the Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board in our state alone “there are roughly 23,500 wells with a plugged and abandoned status or those which have no associated operator”. Some of these are effectively sealed, but an unknown number are not. According to industry insiders, there are an estimated 400 wells drilled between 1940 and 1970 which may or may not have been plugged but no such records can be located.
If even a fraction of Mississippi’s 23,500 old wells are leaking methane, they collectively account for a serious amount of methane over the years.
Research conducted by Amy Townsend-Small, a geology professor at the University of Cincinnati, found that idle oil wells emit an average of 6.2 grams of methane per hour, although some have emissions as high as 132 grams per hour. Multiply that by the number of leaky wells, and the number of years they have sat abandoned, and you soon have a serious source of methane pollution.
No doubt if government bureaucrats were required to tackle a pollution problem caused by wells that the government owns they would devise a costly program in response. But what if there was a no-cost alternative that could fix the problem instead?
Orphan wells are able to carry on emitting methane because they are publicly owned. As Aristotle once suggested, that which no one owns, nobody cares for. Or as Milton Friedman more recently echoed, “when everybody owns something, nobody owns it.”
Today, oil companies have almost no incentive to plug orphaned wells that they do not own. In order to get them to cap uncapped wells, you would need to literally pay them, or force them to set aside funds to do so at the outset of any new exploration.
But what if you aligned the interests of oil companies with those that want to see the wells properly sealed? Why not allow oil companies to buy up bundles of orphaned wells? Instead of sitting there ignored and unloved, you could allow private businesses to buy them in return for a promise to take care of them. Privatized wells would have to be either properly plugged or else reactivated.
Over the past few decades, there have been some remarkable advances in oil extraction technology. 3-D seismic imaging and developments in horizontal drilling mean that fields that were long ago considered exhausted have been brought back into production, with often striking results.
Auctioning off bundles of orphaned wells could work if oil companies were allowed to use new extraction techniques in old fields. Any business contemplating whether to bid for a bundle of old wells would have to weigh up the cost of having to cap any that were unproductive with the potential gains from additional extraction.
Instead of having to wait for federal bureaucrats to take the initiative on this, this is a policy proposal that states like Mississippi could take themselves. Mississippi should consider passing a law to allow publicly owned orphaned wells to be bought by private firms, on the understanding that they are either capped properly or brought back into production.
Perhaps this would not provide sufficient incentive for private firms to want to incur the cost of capping for an uncertain return on wells that might be brought back into production. Maybe additional incentives are needed to encourage private enterprises to cap them. I have no doubt that this idea could be improved upon.
But the best way to reduce methane emissions is by creating incentives that get private enterprises involved. Allowing private firms to buy orphan wells might just do something about methane emissions while raising more tax revenue for our state, creating more work for oil workers, and providing more energy for America.
“Now that the dollar is merely a paper promise, issued by the Fed, the federal government is able to borrow almost at will.”
Fifty-one years ago this week, Richard Nixon made the most consequential decision of his presidency – and it had nothing to do with Watergate.
On August 15, 1971, Nixon announced that the US dollar could no longer be converted into gold. Up until that moment, the dollar was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce under what was called the Bretton Woods System. This international agreement committed the American government to backing every dollar overseas with gold.
“Big deal”, you might say. “What has some distant decision got to do with today?” Quite a lot, actually. It explains why government is big, inflation high, capitalism corrupted and why young Americans are voting left.
For as long as dollars could be converted into gold, there was a limit on the number of dollars that the US government could put into circulation. Why? Because someone might come along with dollars and ask to exchange it for gold. Once dollars could no longer be converted into gold, the US government was free to create as many dollars as it liked.
This is pretty much what has happened ever since.
Following Nixon’s announcement, the only thing restricting the amount of dollars that the government creates is the government. And governments, sadly, are not very good at saying “no” to themselves.
This has produced persistent inflation. Even before the latest price increases, there has been more inflation over the past half century than in all the previous history of the American Republic, including the Civil War and two world wars.
The amount of money in circulation has increased rapidly since Nixon made his announcement. Indeed, the past three years has seen an unprecedented surge in the number of dollars out there.
The United States was founded by rebels demanding “no taxation without representation”.
Thanks to Nixon’s decision, in order to raise revenue today the US government does not need permission from our representatives in Congress to raise tax. They can simply borrow instead.
The US government has had a budget deficit on 47 of the past 51 years. Now that the dollar is merely a paper promise, issued by the Fed, the federal government is able to borrow almost at will. I imagine George III would have looked at such a scheme with envy. No need to worry about taxing tea when you can borrow and spend billions at will.
Once the government is free to manipulate the currency to spend what it wants, it is also able to use monetary policy as a tool to steer the economy.
At first the government only manipulated monetary policy to direct the economy in extreme circumstances, such as when the stock market crashed in October 1987. The US Fed used monetary policy to ride to the rescue. They slashed interest rates to boost spending, cut savings and make shareholding more attractive to investors than holding cash.
A decade later, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, the Fed did something similar. And then again with the collapse of LTMC, the world’s largest hedge fund. By the time the Fed used monetary stimulus in response to the dot com bubble bursting, or the collapse of Lehman bank, it was almost expected.
When Covid came, monetary stimulus in the form of low rates and QE was not a temporary measure. It had become a constant – but one that has begun to corrupt capitalism.
Years of low interest rates and artificially easy money has caused all sorts of problems. Easy money means that asset prices have been inflated. The explosion of asset values benefits those with assets (often older) over those without (the young). (Ever wondered why so many young Americans vote left and say they are skeptical about free-market capitalism?)
Real wages have stagnated. (Ever wondered why blue collar America often seems so angry?)
You might not be able to see it right now, but an awful lot of bad investments have been made, with many ‘zombie’ companies – firms that are able to service their debts but not pay off the principle.
The ‘Nixon shock’ caught America by surprise in August 1971 but was soon overshadowed by Watergate. Half a century on, it seems that sanctioning a burglary was not the worst decision Nixon made in the Oval Office.
Where does all this leave conservatives today?
If we are serious about reducing the size and reach of government, we cannot remain part of the Greenspan-to-Powell consensus. A future conservative President and Congress are going to have to, at the very least, redefine the Fed’s terms of reference.
Nothing lasts forever, and certainly not paper promises.
###
Submitted by Douglas Carswell. He is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
The Mississippi State Personnel Board gave the state’s welfare department the green light Thursday to hire new legal counsel for its high-profile civil lawsuit to recoup millions in misspent welfare funds.
Jackson-based law firm Jones Walker will replace former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, the contract attorney who initially crafted the lawsuit, after the Gov. Tate Reeves administration abruptly removed Pigott from the case last month. The new one-year contract is for up to $400,000, with partners working on the case earning a rate of $305-an-hour. Pigott’s contract was for up to $75,000 for the previous year.
One defense attorney on the case is criticizing the state for using taxpayer money in its pursuit of many low-level characters in the overarching welfare scandal. The attorney, Jim Waide, is also raising questions about how the new contract will ensure that Reeves is not controlling the case to the extent that he would prevent other potential parties, including himself and former Gov. Phil Bryant, from being included as defendants if the attorneys deemed that appropriate. Mississippi Today has uncovered communication connecting certain welfare expenditures to both Bryant and Reeves.
Mississippi Department of Human Services is suing 38 people or companies, including former NFL quarterback Brett Favre and three retired WWE wrestlers, who it says were responsible for misspending roughly $24 million from a federal grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
“They will vigorously pursue this case—wherever it leads,” Gov. Reeves said in a statement following the contract approval. “They will eagerly cooperate with those criminal investigators whose mission is to get truth and justice for the misconduct that occurred during the previous administration. And they will leave no stone unturned in the effort to recover misspent TANF funds.”
In the personnel board meeting, Mississippi Department of Human Services Director Bob Anderson said he believes the agency needs a larger legal team as the litigation moves into the discovery and trial phases. Anderson had previously justified Pigott’s removal by saying the attorney failed to communicate with the agency about a subpoena he filed on University of Southern Mississippi athletic foundation.
Anderson said the new attorneys who will be handling the case, Kaytie Pickett and Adam Stone, have experience in complex commercial litigation as well as procurement-related matters.
“While Brad Pigott initiated and prepared the original complaint in this case, we believe that Jones Walker is who we need to finish the process of getting to final judgment and recovery of funds,” Anderson said in a written statement. “They have a deep bench and are well acquainted with complex electronic discovery platforms, which will be crucial in a case like this involving hundreds and thousands of documents.”
Jones Walker, like many large law firms across the state, is a frequent campaign donor to Mississippi politicians. Locally, the firm used to be Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis before it merged with Jones Walker over a decade ago.
The Attorney General’s Office also had to approve the contract.
Waide, an attorney for a defendant in the case, wrote a letter to the personnel board before the meeting criticizing the state’s decision to hire a new law firm and urging the board not to approve a contract that wastes taxpayer funds. Waide represents Austin Smith, the nephew of the former MDHS director John Davis, who is facing criminal charges in the scheme.
Kelly Hardwick, director of the personnel board, said the board reviewed the letter, but that “that’s outside of anything we would consider.”
Hardwick said the Jones Walker contract was within the state’s procurement guidelines and regulations.
Waide had recently filed an objection to the state’s motion to withdraw Pigott as counsel and asked that the court examine whether Reeves is controlling the lawsuit to protect himself and his supporters. The filing came after Mississippi Today uncovered text messages connecting the current governor to the funding of fitness trainer Paul Lacoste, a defendant in the case. Lacoste’s organization received $1.3 million, more than $300,000 of which went to Lacoste personally, according to records, to conduct fitness classes for roughly eight months in 2019. Then-Lt. Gov. Reeves attended the boot camp while texts show Lacoste used his relationship with Reeves to endear himself to the welfare director.
Previous reporting also showed that Reeves’ office directed MDHS to remove the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, whose board is made up of several Reeves donors, from the suit before it was filed. The foundation used $5 million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium on campus.
“…the governor himself is a potential defendant,” Waide wrote to the personnel board. “Because of the potential financial interest of the governor, he should hire his own attorney, and should not be furnished an attorney at taxpayer expense.”
In his statement, Anderson noted that Jones Walker will be tasked with, among other things, evaluating claims against additional potential defendants. Several law firms Anderson spoke with could not take the case because of conflicts.
Waide also called into question why Attorney General Lynn Fitch, the state’s official litigator, is not handling the case.
“Unless the Attorney General has a conflict of interest, there is no reason why she should not pursue this suit without costing the taxpayers,” Waide wrote.
Waide also argued that if MDHS hires a law firm to represent the state, it should pay the firm based on what they recoup in the litigation, not a set fee, especially since so many of the defendants will likely not be able to pay the potential damages. An attorney under a contingency arrangement might be more likely to pursue other entities that received welfare funds — such as the USM athletic foundation — who received larger amounts of money and would be more likely able to return the funds.
“An hourly fee arrangement with any firm will likely result in the expensive pursuit of low-level defendants, such as Austin Smith and others, who have no means to pay a judgement. On the other hand, an attorney hired on a contingent fee basis would pursue those who are financially able to pay a judgement, and would cost the taxpayers nothing if no funds are recovered.”
Jones Walker did not return calls to Mississippi Today for this story.
“This work is just beginning, and it may take years—but we will follow the facts wherever they go and pursue it for as long as it takes,” said Reeves’ statement Thursday. “That is what the state has done since I took office, and we will continue to do it aggressively.”
RGA says Democrats have deemphasized the role of law enforcement, support soft on crime policies which has led to increased crime.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is among the Governors taking part in the Republican Governors Association’s (RGA) Red State Recovery series highlighting Republican Governors’ efforts to combat rises in crime across the nation and support law enforcement as Democrats pushed to defund the police and release criminals back onto the street.
RGA says Republican Governors quickly took action following the outbreak of crime during and after the pandemic by strongly supporting local law enforcement and ensuring they had the resources needed to protect their communities.
Yet, RGA continues, Democrats deemphasized the role of law enforcement and continued supporting soft on crime policies, which led to sharp increases in crime in Democrat-led cities and states.
“Americans can see a clear contrast between the Democrats’ soft on crime policies and defund the police rhetoric and the Republican governors who want to fund law enforcement and keep their states safe,” said RGA Communications Director Jesse Hunt. “Part of why the Red State Recovery has been so successful is because Republican governors have continually fought for law and order and ensured the individuals and small businesses that call their states home can feel safe.”
Today’s video on crime features Reeves along with Governors Brian Kemp of Georgia, Greg Abbott of Texas, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, and Kim Reynolds of Iowa.
“There is no doubt that the defund the police movement certainly gave criminals more and more incentives to get out and do what they do, which is wreak havoc,” Reeves says, adding, “We’re trying to not defund the police, but increase funding… We are committed to making sure that there is a law enforcement presence.”
You can watch the video message from RGA below.
While Democrats have supported defunding the police and soft on crime policies, Republican governors took action to protect and secure their states from criminals and stood with law enforcement officers to keep communities safe. pic.twitter.com/PPo0iA8lIR
MAAP measures students’ progress toward academic goals that equip them with skills, knowledge to succeed in college, workforce.
On Thursday, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) released statewide results from the 2021-22 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP). MAAP measures students’ progress toward academic goals that equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college and the workforce.
The results show student achievement exceeding pre-pandemic levels in English Language Arts (ELA) and science, and nearly tying in mathematics.
2016-2022 MAAP Results
Dr. Kim Benton, interim state superintendent of education, said that the 2021-22 assessment results provide clear and indisputable evidence of the resilience of our students and educators and their ability to recover from the disruptions to learning.
“We are confident Mississippi educators and school leaders across the state will continue to build upon this progress by setting high expectations and working to ensure every student in every school overcomes the setbacks of the pandemic and is successful,” Benton continued.
MAAP measures student performance in ELA and mathematics in grades 3-8, science in grades 5 and 8, and in high school English II, Algebra I, Biology and U.S. History.
The 2021-22 MAAP results show that overall, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced reached an all-time high of 42.2% in ELA and 55.9% in science, and reached 47.3% in mathematics, just shy of the pre- pandemic rate of 47.4%.
Pre-pandemic, student achievement steadily increased from the first administration of MAAP in 2016 until 2019, when the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced reached a record high. The pandemic created obstacles to teaching and learning throughout 2020-2021, and overall student achievement declined in Mississippi and nationally.
Student achievement on current Science assessments exceeded pre-pandemic levels and reached an all-time high of 55.9% proficient and advanced. The state administered a new U.S. History assessment in 2020-2021; the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on this assessment increased from 47.4% in 2020-2021 to 69.3% in 2021-2022.
“There have been incredible efforts in districts and at the state level to remove barriers for students,” Dr. Benton said. “We still have students in areas of the state who have not completely rebounded. Support will continue to be available in the upcoming school year and next summer to make sure every student is able to recover from the disruptions to their learning and narrow achievement gaps.”
MDE said that the overall increase in assessment scores in 2021-22 after the decline in 2020-21 will likely impact district and school grades because the calculation of the state’s A-F accountability grades relies heavily on the amount of progress students make from one year to the next.
“Overall, students made significant progress between 2020-21 and 2021-22, as schools focused on accelerating learning after the first year of the pandemic,” MDE said in a release. “In addition, the passing requirements for high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History were waived in 2020-21, which will affect the graduation rate until all students who tested under the waivers graduate.”
