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enrollment over Advanced Placement.
By Mack Spencer
Monitor-Herald
PITTSBORO - With a new accreditation model for schools to be implemented soon, Level 5 will soon mean nothing - in more ways than one.
The five levels, 1 through 5, under the old accreditation system will be replaced by a seven-category system: Star School, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, At-Risk of Failing and Failing.
Rather than benchmark test scores, accreditation will rest mostly on quality of distribution index. QDI is the percentage of students scoring basic on state tests, plus two times the percentage of students scoring proficient, plus three times the percentage of students scoring advanced.
Each accreditation level corresponds to a range of QDIs.
For students "just to pass the test is not enough anymore," Bruce High School principal Mark Grubbs told the school board Monday night. "We've got to have more students passing, and at a higher level.
"Bruce High School has been a Level 5 school, but if we don't meet growth, our QDI of 150 would put us in Academic Watch in the new system," he said. "This is why I don't sleep well at night."
Grubbs used test scores from the fall semester to calculate QDI. The official QDI and accreditation level will be released this summer after spring test results are available.
In other business:
n Superintendent Mike Moore suggested that the district promote dual enrollment classes rather than Advanced Placement.
Unlike AP, in which earning college credit depends on passing an exam, dual enrollment guarantees students college credit if they pass the class. The duel enrollment classes would use Northwest Mississippi Community College's curriculum, and credit would be awarded through Northwest.
Whether the district decides to pursue Advanced Placement, dual enrollment or both, the classes will probably be held at the Career-Technical Center so that students from each high school will have the opportunity to take the classes.
n Moore and the board acknowledged about $2,250 in donations to district schools.
n The board approved a 50-year lease with the town of Calhoun City for land next to the high school baseball field on which the baseball boosters plan to build an indoor practice facility.
n The board rehired certified personnel, contingent upon receipt of sufficient state funding.
n Retirements and resignations included Bruce Upper Elementary School principal Linda White, psychometrist Christy Morgan, teacher Jock Easley, executive secretary Raenell Moore and mechanic Steve Bryant.