Published: December 23, 2007 12:10 am            

Superintendent's report a puff piece

When you hear the term "Superintendent's Annual Report" you might picture a thick publication full of graphs and charts, detailing where schools need improvement and where they have improved, containing statistics about grades and standardized test scores, and full of suggestions for changes.

But in the Meridian Public School District, that picture would be an inaccurate one. This year the Superintendent's Annual Report was little, if anything, more than an ad; a glossy brochure with lots of fluffy copy about sports championships and field trips, it's more graphic design than substance, filled with more staged photos than information.

For example, the entirety of the special education section of the report reads as follows: "Providing services for children ages 3-21, MPSD offers special education classes at every campus, with three pre-school classes at West Hills and Parkview for children with disabilities. A varied curriculum ranges from individualized, one-on-one lessons to inclusion in the general classroom setting." Nowhere else in the report is special education mentioned at all.

The rest of the report is along the same lines: lists of services but no analysis of them, lists of principals and school board members, a not-so-detailed, but prettily designed, outline of the budget, right next to a picture of a cute little boy holding up a story book.

Parents and other concerned citizens who want real information on how Meridian and Lauderdale County schools are doing can find some of it by visiting the Mississippi Department of Education's Web site at www.mde.k12.ms.us, clicking on the link that says "Educational Accountability" and then clicking the link that says "Research and Statistics."

According to the Web site, Meridian schools did meet all reported No Child Left Behind requirements, with some help from the Safe Harbor clause, which makes it easier for certain students to meet requirements.

The Web site also shows scores, searchable both by school district and individual school, for the Mississippi Curriculum Test, Writing Assessments, and the Subject Area Testing Program, as well as enrollment data and No Child Left Behind report cards.

The Meridian Public School District's report card showed that 91.5 percent of courses are taught by a highly qualified teacher. The report also showed that, in most grade levels and subject areas, white students scored higher than black students on the Mississippi Curriculum Test, females scored higher than males, and students who were not economically disadvantaged scored higher than students who were.

Students with disabilities had by far the lowest scores in all subject areas and grade levels, with learning disabled eighth graders receiving the lowest scores - 9 percent passed the reading test, 14 percent passed the language test, and only 5 percent received a passing score on the reading test.

For the entire state of Mississippi, the "students with disabilities" subgroup was behind all other subgroups in reading and mathematics.

All statistics are for the 2006-2007 school year.

The Web site provides a great deal more information than the superintendent's report, but still does not delve much deeper than test scores. What it does indicate, though, is that Meridian schools are barely squeaking by, and that special education here barely warrants the term "education".

Sylvia Autry will retire on the first of July, and the search for a new superintendent is currently being performed with the help of a University of Mississippi firm. Here's hoping that the new superintendent will put a heavy focus on improving special ed programs, both for students with severe mental handicaps and more minor learning disabilities.

Much of the $19.5 million school bond has been spent on or set aside for things like much-needed repairs and the progressive overhaul of curriculum at Meridian High School, but none of it was set aside for students with disabilities, despite the fact that those students are most in need of extra attention.

The changes made with the school bond money may have been needed in many cases, but with only 5 percent of eighth-graders with disabilities achieving passing scores in reading, improving special education ought to be the number one priority of the school district.

Copies of the Superintendent's Annual Report are available at the Meridian Public School District Central Office, at 1019 25th Ave.



Jennifer Jacob is a staff writer for

The Meridian Star. E-mail her at

jjacob@themeridianstar.com

        

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