State Board of Education Eliminates U.S. History End-of-Course Assessment

The Mississippi State Board of Education held its monthly meeting Thursday, June 19, 2025. Among its agenda items, the Board:

• Honored Sonya Amis, MDE’s Chief Deputy of Educational Accountability, upon her retirement after 28 years of service to the department.
• Approved eliminating the administration of and graduation requirement for the U.S. History end-of-course assessment beginning with the 2025-26 school year. MDE received 20 public comments in support of this action, 16 opposed to the proposal, 3 neutral comments and 5 off-topic comments. All students will still be required to take and pass the high school U.S. History course in order to graduate.
• Approved revising the business rules of the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System to be effective with the 2025-26 school year. Click here for a red line version of these revisions as presented during the Board’s April 17, 2025, meeting.
• Received a report on the public hearing held June 11 regarding the establishment of the new State Board Policy "Compliance with State Law Regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Prohibitions, Complaint Process, and Investigations." This new policy is required by HB 1193 of the 2025 Legislative Session. While five citizens registered to speak at the June 11 hearing, only one actually spoke. The Board approved the new policy during yesterday’s meeting. 
• Approved a contract with Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) to administer statewide assessments for the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) and the alternate assessment program (MAAP-A). MDE previously contracted with multiple vendors to administer these assessments. In addition to the assessment services, DRC is to provide a number of new services, including benchmark testing beginning in Year 2 of the contract for all MAAP students with questions aligned to Mississippi standards with automated scoring/reporting with writing prompt responses analysis. According to MDE staff, this contract with a single vendor will reduce the process for various assessment platforms and the resulting cost savings will allow MDE to provide additional services to help prepare students for testing. The five-year contract is not to exceed $81.1 million. 
• Awarded Fiscal Year 2026 Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services in Schools (MCOPS) Grants. These grants will fund 171 School Resource Officers serving 278 schools in 41 districts. Click here for the grant awards. 
• Approved revising student-teacher ratio requirements beginning with the 2025-26 school year and beginning the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) process for revisions to applicable State Board policies and Process Standards. The revisions are necessary because the section of state law mandating specific ratios was repealed with the passage of the new Mississippi Student Funding Formula in 2024 and state law now authorizes the Commission on School Accreditation to establish ratios and to approve/disapprove waiver requests. Click here to review the proposed revisions which essentially reflect current ratios with some clarification.