At the end of the 2023-2024 school year Oxford High School became an “A” district for 10 years in a row. According to the Mississippi Department of Education, “The Mississippi Statewide Accountability System assigns a performance rating of A, B, C, D, and F for each school and district based on established criteria regarding student achievement, individual student growth, graduation rate, and participation rate.”
A school can become an “A” school district by getting points based systems, grading them out of 1000 points. Student growth makes up one third of the grade, english and math get higher points then other subjects.
“Becoming an “A” school district requires a combination of high student proficiency rates in core content areas, strong student growth, and success in addressing achievement gaps,” Superintendent Bradley Roberson said. “It also includes graduation rates, college and career readiness indicators such as the ACT and ACT WorkKeys, and the success of subgroups such as English language learners and special education students.”
Oxford High School has faced many challenges and has had many solutions to address these challenges. The Oxford School District has added support systems for students.
“Covid has really taken the school back a ton,” OHS teacher Amanda Smiley said. “The points were lowered for the special education department while the number of special education students rising, we had a huge increase in the number of students and the number of English language learners.”
Oxford School District has tried many different strategies, added programs to help students, and adapted to the changes.
“We have continuously adapted to stay ahead of educational trends,” Roberson said. “We’ve implemented standards-based learning and grading practices across all grade levels, making us the only district in Mississippi to do so. This ensures our curriculum is aligned with state and national standards while also being tailored to individual student needs. We have also embraced technology in the classroom, expanded our career and technical education programs, and grown our internship partnerships with local businesses.”
The Oxford School District has been changing and growing every year. Using a newer and more advanced learning strategy.
[ko“I started teaching here in 2013, and the school has changed something every year,” Smiley said. “Duri’0099ng that time there have been at least 5 or 6 different schedules, the school has added a CTE program to help with the ACT, and the school added an ACT prep class.”
Oxford School District plans to help new students who cannot speak English, they plan on trying to get students and teachers more involved with the school. The Oxford School district has many future plans but we still need to keep adjusting to the changing in the way we learn.
“Our goals moving forward include continuing to close achievement gaps, particularly for our non-English-speaking students and students with special needs,” Roberson said. “We are committed to maintaining our focus on continuous improvement, utilizing data to inform our decisions, and fostering innovation in teaching and learning. Additionally, we aim to increase the engagement of our students, staff, and families as measured by our engagement surveys administered twice a year. Lastly, we want to expand our career readiness programs to provide more opportunities for students to experience real-world learning. All of these are components of our new five-year strategic plan.”
