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On October 20, 2016 the State Board of Education released the accountability rankings for public schools and districts throughout the state of Mississippi. These results were based on the new state assessment known as the MAP (Mississippi Assessment Program). The accountability model, which has been criticized and scrutinized by many, contained new elements this year at the high school and district levels tracking college readiness based on student performance on the ACT and an acceleration component based on participation and grades earned through dual credit or advanced placement courses.
Simpson County School District was only one of five districts statewide to show improvement in student test scores under the previous PARCC assessments. The new assessment measures academic growth and has been criticized for punishing schools with high achievement levels since they have less room for growth. Given all these factors, Simpson County schools did well as evidenced by the chart below:
| School site or District | Score | Grade assigned |
| Simpson County School District | 525 | C |
| Magee Elementary | 258 | D |
| Magee Middle School | 309 | D |
| Magee High School | 552 | C |
| Mendenhall Elementary | 284 | C |
| Mendenhall Junior High | 308 | D |
| Mendenhall High School | 542 | D |
| Simpson Central | 413 | B |
Simpson County is one of the 25.1% of districts with a “C” level ranking with 37.1% of districts earning either an “A” or a “B” ranking and 37.8% of districts statewide earning a “D” or “F” level ranking. The schools are ranked on either a 600 or 700 point scale depending on the grade level assessments they give while high schools or schools with a 12th grade are rated on a 1,000 point scale. Any school that does not test at least 95% of their students is automatically penalized a full letter grade. All schools in Simpson County tested more than the required 95% of students. Although the assessments were different than the previous year, Mendenhall High School showed the most growth in the district amongst schools earning 78 more points this year than last year.
Superintendent Greg Paes stated that while we are not where we need to be yet this is a good indication we are headed in the right direction. Complementing the teachers throughout the district, he continued by saying, “Teachers are the backbone of education in our system and they are the ones making a difference in the lives of our students. I appreciate all their efforts to provide excellence in education to the students of Simpson County”.
