Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 7 - Education K-12
Part 24 - Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards 2023
THE HISTORY OF ACCREDITATION IN MISSISSIPPI

Current through March 14, 2024

Since the early 1900s, accreditation has sought to improve schools through the requirements of the accrediting agency. In Mississippi, the roots of school accreditation are found in the institutions of higher learning and state teachers associations. It began in 1896 when the University of Mississippi published a program of studies for an approved high school. The schools that met the Universitys prescribed program of studies were officially listed as affiliated high schools, and the graduates of those schools were admitted to the University on the basis of their records (certificates), without examination. The list included white high schools in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and it was soon recognized as the approved list by the other colleges in the state.

In 1918, the effort to regulate the program of studies in secondary schools was strengthened in 1918 when the University requested the Mississippi Education Association to appoint a committee to classify the affiliated high schools. The Association appointed five (5) members to a High School Classifying Committee and required this group to establish standards of classification, to devise a system for grouping high schools, and to assign each high school to its appropriate group. The responsibilities and workload of this subsidiary committee of the Mississippi Education Association continued to grow, and the need for full-time statewide supervision of high schools soon became apparent. This need was met in 1919 when the position of state supervisor of secondary schools was created in the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). In May of 1920, the High School Classifying Committee became the State High School Accrediting Commission, a standing committee of the Mississippi Education Association. The State Supervisor of Secondary Schools chaired the first Commission, whose membership consisted of representatives from two (2) high schools, the A and M College, Millsaps College, Mississippi College, the Mississippi State College for Women, and the University of Mississippi. This Commission required high schools to meet eleven (11) minimum standards before being accredited and defined an accredited high school as one that meets all requirements and, after inspection, has been approved by the Commission.

Accreditation of elementary schools was not addressed until 1926. During that year, the Mississippi Education Association created the Elementary School Accrediting Commission to perform the same duties in regulating programs for elementary schools that the High School Accrediting Commission did for secondary schools. The Elementary Commission consisted of ten (10) members, with the newly appointed State Elementary School Supervisor serving as executive secretary of the group.

Operating as separate entities, these two (2) Commissions regulated the elementary and secondary programs in white schools until 1949 when they were discontinued by the Mississippi Education Association, and the Mississippi Accrediting Commission was formed.

The first efforts to accredit colored schools began in 1935 when the Mississippi Association for Teachers in Colored Schools organized the Negro Accrediting Commission. In 1947, the Mississippi Association for Teachers in Colored Schools became the Mississippi Teachers Association, and the Commission continued to operate under the renamed Teachers association until 1959. During that year, the name was changed to the State Accrediting Commission, and one (1) of the first official actions of this group was to adopt the existing rules and regulations of the Mississippi Accrediting Commission.

1960-1980

The sixties found these two (2) Commissions sharing responsibilities for accrediting black and white schools; and, in carrying out their duties, both groups made extensive use of officials in the SBE. The director of the Division of Instruction and his staff served as liaison personnel in distributing, collecting, and processing accreditation information. This practice of separate but equal accreditation terminated in the Summer of 1970 when the State Board of Education (SBE) assumed the responsibility, thus adding a legal dimension to a voluntary process designed to improve schools.

The accreditation law of 1970 gave the SBE the power and authority to prescribe the standards and procedures for the accreditation of schools and placed the responsibility for enforcement in the MDE. The law further mandated the SBE to appoint a Commission on School Accreditation (CSA), whose membership would consist of three (3) representatives from each of the five (5) Congressional districts and whose primary purpose would be to continually review the accreditation system. Contrary to the general perception of the public, the law did not make accreditation compulsory for any school. The process continued to be voluntary and open to any elementary, secondary, or special school in the state.

In the decade following the passage of the accreditation law of 1970, the accreditation system continued to emphasize quantitative factors (specific resources and personnel) to accomplish as school improvement. The provision of adequate resources and personnel was assumed to be a sufficient indicator of the quality of the school program, but, as accreditation information was evaluated, it was found that the quality of the school program was not a direct correlate of the required quantitative factors. However, the system was successful in assuring the presence of adequate resources and in standardizing the organization and operation of school programs. These assurances were not enough to soothe a growing disgruntled public, which was constantly evaluating the products of accredited schools its students.

1980-PRESENT

As the eighties approached, the state was set for reform in education and in school accreditation. The public wanted the emphasis in accrediting schools shifted from measures of quantity to those of quality. A series of significant legislative mandates passed during the past 20 years have been instrumental in not only creating the current public school accreditation model and accountability system, but also establishing Mississippi as a nationally recognized leader in the school improvement and accountability movement.

Governor William Winter recognized the need for education reform and initiated the accountability movement in Mississippi beginning with the Education Reform Act of 1982. This landmark legislation established a task force to study and propose a plan to establish guidelines and criteria for a permanent performance-based system of school accreditation for all public elementary and secondary schools. The legislation created and authorized the CSA to establish a system for assuring the quality of school programs in Mississippi. This new system, appropriately deemed performance-based school accreditation, was based upon measures that focus on the extent to which schools help students master defined content and objectives. The law shifted the emphasis in school accreditation to the outcomes of education, specifically those related to student achievement, and changed the accreditation process from voluntary to compulsory for all public elementary and secondary schools.

Legislation enacted in 1994 maintained the emphasis on student achievement and mandated that the SBE strengthen and expand the performance-based accreditation system. The 1994 legislation required the system to include: rigorous minimum standards levels above the minimum that demand High Performing performance and strict accountability measures for districts that fail to meet minimum standards.

During the 1999 Legislative Session, the legislature passed the Mississippi Student Achievement Improvement Act of 1999 requiring the SBE to create a state-of-the-art school evaluation and improvement system. The act required the SBE to implement a performance-based accreditation system for both individual schools and school districts. This legislation also required the SBE to set annual performance standards for each of the schools in the state and to measure the performance of each school against itself, using student growth and performance measures. Before new standards and tests were developed, hundreds of teachers helped to re-write the curriculum for mathematics and language arts.

Legislation passed in 2000 clarified requirements for establishing new accountability standards, making accreditation levels reflective of student performance at the school level rather than the district level. This 2000 legislation required individual school performance accreditation levels to be based on two (2) criteria:

In this accountability system, public school accreditation was two-fold: Each school district was awarded an accreditation status based on compliance with process standards, and individual schools were assigned a school performance classification based on student achievement. District accreditation statuses were awarded under the new accreditation model in October 2001, and individual school performance classifications were assigned in September 2003. For the first time, all components of a school - students, teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members were held accountable for student learning.

In 2007, an Accountability Task Force began working on what a new accountability system should look like considering the new curriculum framework in Language Arts, Mathematics and corresponding assessments that were being implemented. Furthermore, the SBE had established three (3) Bold Goals;