Mississippi Leading Nation With Strong, Student-Centered Policies

Statement from Governor Jeb Bush, ExcelinEd Founder and Chairman, on Mississippi’s results from the 2019 National Assessment of Education Progress which showed the state’s learning gains were the best in the nation.

“The 2019 NAEP results prove that Mississippi’s focus on enacting strong student-centered policies is leading to student success. Mississippi has taken bold steps in early literacy, school accountability and choice policies over the past seven years and they are working.

“This would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of Mississippi’s teachers, principals, parents and community leaders. I encourage Mississippi’s leaders, Governor Phil Bryant, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, Senator Gray Tollison, Representative Richard Bennett and Superintendent Carey Wright and the Mississippi Department of Education to keep up the great work for all of Mississippi’s students and families.”

Highlights from the 2019 NAEP show:

• Mississippi is the only state in the nation to show significant increases in three of the four core NAEP subjects in 2018: fourth grade math and reading and eighth grade math.
• For the first time, Mississippi 4^th graders scored higher than the nation’s public school average in mathematics and tied the national average in reading.
• Mississippi’s black and white students living in poverty outperformed their peers nationally with students from low-income homes earning higher scores than the national average in all four NAEP subjects. Hispanic students from low-income families outperformed their peers nationally in three of four NAEP tested subjects.