by Violet Jira, Mississippi Today
August 2, 2024

Spring 2024 preliminary state test results reported to districts across the state were scored incorrectly according to the Mississippi Department of Education, leading the agency to end a contract with the company responsible for the error.

School districts across the state were left scrambling to re-assess the corrected data, which they use to make determinations about everything from graduation requirements to instructional strategies for the 2024-25 school year, which for some districts has already begun. Some students ended up meeting graduation requirements and graduating in the summertime.

The majority of initial data was incorrect due to erroneous scoring by the Northwest Evaluation Association — the Oregon-based company the state contracted with to provide and process the tests. In a July 18 meeting, the State Board of Education voted to sever their contract with the company, which the state has been working with since 2015. The Mississippi Academic Assessment Program measures student achievement in English Language Arts, mathematics, science and U.S. history.

The average yearly contract with the company has been $8,161,518.84.

“We were not aware that there was any type of error when we initially received the files from the vendor, but we were concerned,” Paula Vanderford, chief accountability officer for MDE, said.

At the state level, the dip in proficiency scores raised eyebrows, but MDE staff was unable to identify anything that would confirm the scores were inaccurate.

The results were then shared with school districts. Many districts reported knowing that something was wrong as soon as the scores were returned to them, because of their ability to look at individual student performance.

“The word I kept using was unexpected,” said Ryan Kuykendall, chief accountability officer for DeSoto County Public Schools, the largest public school district in the state. “We do a lot of assessments throughout the year to track student progress and adjust our instruction, so the hope is that when the state assessment comes back you sort of know where the students are. So, the results were unexpected.”

The data was released to school districts on July 17. By July 2, after communication with districts about their concerns, the state confirmed that the data was erroneous and that they would be receiving a new batch of data.

This put a squeeze on central offices across the state, who had to process the test results for a second time, in a fraction of the time.

“It was extra work. There’s no way to deny that. The way I viewed it and tried to get across to our department is that we’re just after the correct results. Whatever the correct results are, are what we need,” Kuykendall said. “But I can’t pretend that it didn’t make our administrative schedule very difficult and tight.”

MDE identified the error, but it had to rely on the vendor to fix the programming error that led to the erroneous scoring and provide the state with correct data.

Though a different vendor processes the 5th and 8th grade science, biology and U.S. History MAAP assessments, all state test results were processed again to ensure accuracy, State Superintendent of Education Lance Evans said.

MDE was unable to provide details about the severance of its contract with NWEA, but awarded an emergency contract to Data Recognition Corp. for the upcoming school year. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, of which NWEA is a division, will continue to be the provider for the state’s alternative assessments.

“In short, faulty item parameters used in our scoring process resulted in incorrect achievement level thresholds, which determine how students perform on an assessment,” Simona Beattie, communications director for NWEA, said in an email. “While we are disappointed in the decision made by the Mississippi State Department of Education to terminate our contract…we understand the state’s frustration and are focusing on our continued work with MDE to provide its alternative state assessments.”

Statewide, the Mississippi Department of Education has been notified of 12 students across seven districts who became eligible to graduate after the assessments were rescored, and graduated this summer. None of the scoring changes resulted in those students passing the tests — Mississippi students who score well enough on subject area tests can graduate if their class scores are high enough.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.