CHS rated ‘B’ for first time in a decade

Despite a drop in the Canton Public School District’s overall rating, the high school sported a “B” rating from the state for the 2022-2023 school year.

The Mississippi Department of Education released the grade-level scores of districts and schools across the state on Sept. 28. 

According to a release from the district, Canton High School was rated a “B” for the first time in the 10 years the state has handed out such ratings. They said CHS was once the lowest “F” rated school in the state.

Among the scores that brought up the school's ranking included a 91 percent graduation rate, which the district claims is the highest in the school's history, and “proficiency gains in reading and science across the board, and all four of the elementary schools are rated B or higher.” 

The district’s overall accountability rating decreased from a “B” in the 2021-2022 school year to a “C” for the 2022-2023 year. They received a score of 618.

The district’s score was automatically downgraded due to testing irregularities detected last year at Nichols Middle School.

The Mississippi Department of Education’s Accountability Standards state that if a school or district does not meet an overall 95 percent testing participation rate, the school or district will automatically be dropped by one classification level. 

Due to the invalidation of scores at Nichols Middle School due to testing irregularities, the district’s testing participation rate was 92.7 percent, which was below the required 95 percent testing participation rate. 

CPSD Superintendent Gary Hannah calls the district’s automatic downgrade “disappointing.”

Hannah said he is confident that the district will return to its previous rating. 

“We used what we learned from this experience to make significant changes to our test security plan,” Hannah said. “And we are moving forward to get back to our B status or higher.”

The state issues accountability ratings on an “A” to “F” scale.

MAAP measures student performance in English/Language Arts, and mathematics in grades three through eight, science in grades five and eight along with English II, Algebra I, biology and U.S. history in high school.