Are Mississippi schools doing better or worse? Find out

Mississippi showed all-time highs for public elementary and secondary school test scores in math and English, but decreases in biology and U.S. history.

The Mississippi State Board of Education announced the state’s latest standardized test scores in its monthly meeting on Thursday.

Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted about the test scores Thursday afternoon.

“Mississippi students have now achieved record results in mathematics, English Language Arts, and science!” he wrote . “Mississippi is growing stronger in virtually every area, and education is no exception.”

Scores reached an all-time high from the 2023-2024 school year with 56.3% proficiency in Math and 47.8% in English. Math scores increased at all grade levels except grades three and four. English scores increased in proficiency for all grades except for grades five and six.

However, even though English scores overall were higher than previous years, English II scores showed significant decline, dropping by 3.9%.

Mississippi State Board of Education Chief Accountability Officer Paula Vanderford said the English II decline was particularly concerning and that she would be working with the assessment team to figure out the root cause of the decline.

More on education in MS: Did Mississippi schools violate a federal act? Read more

For science scores, the testing is divided into grade five, grade eight and biology. While grade five and grade eight increased in proficiency, biology showed a mild decrease.

Scores for U.S. history also saw a dip in 2024 compared to 2023, declining by 0.5% overall.

More on higher ed: Jackson State acquires additional housing to address shortage. See where

The dips in biology and U.S. history, Vanderford said, were marginal and not statistically significant.

“While we don't want to ever see any decline, even that small amount of decline raises concerns for us, we just have to keep in mind what is statistically significant versus what it's not,” Vanderford added.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Are Mississippi schools doing better or worse? Find out