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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: June 15, 2015
MDE Launches Online Public Comment Forum for Mississippi College- and Career-Ready Standards
JACKSON, Miss. – In keeping with the periodic review process of academic standards, the Mississippi Department of Education announced today that it is seeking specific input on the English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics standards through a process called the Mississippi College- and Career-Ready Standards (MCCRS) Feedback Forum.
The MCCRS Feedback Forum, which will be open June 15-Sept. 15, is designed to encourage stakeholders to read the standards and either submit comments in support of the standards or provide specific, actionable feedback on any particular standards of concern. This process provides a venue for stakeholders to make recommendations on improving or building upon standards that have been adopted.
The process is not intended to serve as a referendum on the standards. Only comments that can become actionable items will be considered.
“While the public had opportunity to provide feedback during the standards adoption process, the Mississippi College- and Career-Ready Standards Feedback Forum will give teachers, parents and others who are interested the chance to perfect the standards based on their experiences over the last several years,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education.
Comments provided about specific standards will be evaluated by a team of Mississippi educators, content specialists in Math and ELA, as well as higher education representatives. The team will then make recommendations on any changes to the Mississippi Board of Education for its consideration in December. Any adjustments approved by the Board won’t be effective until the 2016-2017 school year.
“This process does exactly what the Board had requested: provide a venue for any stakeholders to provide recommendations on how we can build upon the current rigorous standards we have as we continue to move the state forward with high standards of learning,” said Dr. John Kelly, Board chairman.
How the Feedback Forum works:
Participants are required to provide some general information on whether they are commenting as parents, educators or business and industry professionals. This demographic information is important to informing the Board and the public about which stakeholders participated in the forum. No personally identifiable information will be requested. However, there is an option to leave email addresses for further contact.
Standards are searchable by grade level and subject. After reading the grade-level standard, the participant will be provided several options for input, including whether he/she likes the standard or doesn’t like the standard. If someone wishes to change the actual wording of the standard, he/she will have that option in an editable textbox prepopulated with the standard as it is currently written, or they may clear the standard and write the standard from scratch.
The public may leave and come back to the Feedback Forum at any time between June 15 and September 15, 2015, but participants will only be able to submit suggestions on a particular standard once per electronic device. At the end of the public comment period, all comments will be published online.
The Feedback Forum can be accessed by visiting http://mississippi.statestandards.com/ .
MEDIA NOTE: Dr. Wright will be available to answer questions about the Feedback Forum at 11:30 a.m. on the 3rd floor of the Central High School Building. Reporters unable to attend may dial the toll-free number: 1-877-820-7831 and enter the participant passcode: 8646652#
