Mississippi's Future--Will the Schools Meet the Challenge? [microform] : A Report to the Mississippi State Board of Education and the Citizens of Mississippi / Phyllis McClure.
Mississippi students are now being tested at almost every grade level. Passage of the Functional Literacy Examination (FLE) will be a prerequisite for a high school diploma beginning with the 1989 graduating class. This emphasis on testing, without an accompanying commitment to ensuring all students...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1988.
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| Summary: | Mississippi students are now being tested at almost every grade level. Passage of the Functional Literacy Examination (FLE) will be a prerequisite for a high school diploma beginning with the 1989 graduating class. This emphasis on testing, without an accompanying commitment to ensuring all students equal access to a full academic core curriculum, has led to mixed results. While the numbers and proportions of black children passing the FLE have been steadily increasing, black enrollment in four-year colleges was lower in 1986 than in 1976. Merely ensuring that every high school graduate is able to master an eighth grade level of literacy will not secure the highly-skilled workforce essential to Mississippi's economic growth. With more jobs requiring a college degree, and with minorities becoming a larger share of a shrinking youth population, the State urgently must seek ways to upgrade its core academic curriculum in every school district, and maximize black, as well as white, enrollment in courses that lead to a college-level education. Major findings and recommendations on the testing of Mississippi students are presented. Data are provided on the core curriculum mandated by the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL; also known as the State College Board), and on American College Testing Program (ACT) scores. The consequences for students are analyzed, and strategies for Mississippi to improve the situation are outlined. The high school academic core curriculum must be placed center stage on the reform agenda. Tables and graphs illustrate the data. Appendices include the following: (1) college admission requirements; (2) chart of Mississippi school districts, school year 1985-86; and (3) comparison: IHL core curriculum and general education curricula requirements. (BJV) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED302606. |
| Physical Description: | 34 pages. |
| Audience: | Policymakers. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain |