State Board of Education ends assessment program contract because of reporting error

JACKSON — The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) voted Thursday to terminate its contract with NWEA to administer the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) assessments for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics for grades 3-8, Algebra I and English II in the 2024-25 school year and award an emergency contract to Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) to administer these assessments in the 2024-25 school year.

The SBE terminated the contract with NWEA because the company incorrectly scored the majority of initial MAAP assessment results administered in the spring of 2024. NWEA corrected the errors in the initial scores released on June 17 and provided districts with updated assessment results on July 12. The corrected results changed the scores for several grades and content areas. The initial error did not affect passing scores for the 3rd-grade reading assessment for spring 2024 or any 3rd-grade retests.

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and its independent technical advisors reviewed and verified the accuracy of the updated results before their release to districts.

“Errors in the administration of our statewide assessments are unacceptable, especially errors of this magnitude,” said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education. “It is the MDE’s and the State Board’s duty to ensure the testing vendors we contract with provide accurate, valid and reliable data in every instance.”

Most Mississippi students receive their score reports for spring assessments when they return to school in the fall. Therefore, the initial scoring error did not affect most students. The error may have an impact on some students who were seniors in the spring of 2024 and retested on the English II assessment to meet graduation requirements. School districts have until July 31 to report their 2024 graduation data to MDE.

Federal law requires states to annually assess the performance of all students in ELA and mathematics in grades 3-8, in science in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school for ELA, mathematics and science.

Statewide assessment results for the 2023-24 school year for all grades and subjects will be released in August.

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