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JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi improved its education ranking to 30th in the nation – the state’s highest ranking ever – according to the 2024 Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Book released today.
KIDS COUNT® Data Book ranked Mississippi 32nd in 2023 and 39th in 2022. The state was ranked 48th in education in 2014 and has experienced continued improvement.
The 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book is a 50-state report of recent household data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that analyzes how children and families are faring. Each year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community factors — and ranks the states according to how children are doing. Mississippi ranks 49th in overall child well-being and has shown progress in half of the 16 indicators.
The 2024 report also examines the national unprecedented declines in student math and reading proficiency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on education. KIDS COUNT® ranks education by measuring pre-K enrollment, 4th grade reading skills, 8th grade math proficiency and the high school graduation rate.
“Mississippi’s momentum in education is the result of strong policies and dedicated, effective educators,” said Dr. Raymond Morgigno, interim state superintendent of education. “The progress of our students has made the state a national leader in improving academic outcomes. While the pandemic disrupted student learning, state and federal funds helped our schools provide additional academic support to help our students exceed pre-pandemic achievement levels.”
The Children’s Foundation of Mississippi has released the 2024 Mississippi KIDS COUNT Factbook to determine opportunities for improving outcomes for all Mississippi children.
“Despite the state’s overall ranking of 49, we are encouraged that Mississippi ranks 30th in education. This is Mississippi’s highest ranking in the education domain in decades. While there is room for improvement in specific indicators, most notably among eighth graders who are not proficient in math, we are pleased to note that the consistent increased investment in Pre-K is better preparing students for kindergarten. One notable improvement is the percentage of Mississippi’s high school students not graduating on time. In 2021-22 this was 12%, compared to 15% in the previous reporting period,” notes Linda Southward, executive director of the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi.
The 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book is available at www.aecf.org. Additional information is available at www.aecf.org/databook. Journalists interested in creating maps, graphs, and rankings in stories about the Data Book can use the KIDS COUNT Data Center at datacenter.aecf.org.
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