The Annie E. Casey Foundation, like Mississippi’s education and political leaders, may be giving this state too much credit for its improved graduation rate.
A major factor for that jump, from 75% to almost 90% in the past decade, was a watering down of graduation requirements.
Nevertheless, in other areas, Mississippi’s public schools have shown unvarnished improvement, such as in reading and math in the lower grades.
Thus, the state has cause to brag about its best-ever ranking in Casey’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, released this week. Going from 30th place to 16th in one year is remarkable. It shows Mississippi, which had long been at the bottom of most educational measurements, is on the right track.
