Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State University is honoring nearly 30 school districts for outstanding strides they made during the past year.
The awards will be presented formally on Friday [Jan. 30] at the conclusion of the third winter conference of the Program for Research and Evaluation of Public Schools, or PREPS. Based in MSU's College of Education, the 90-member organization is the state's oldest and largest educational consortium of school districts.
The PREPS Value Added Awards and the PREPS Accreditation Awards are designed to spotlight two very different types of success, according to Mike Walters, executive director of PREPS and the college's Center for Educational Partnership.
"The Value Added Awards honor districts that have 'gone the extra mile' to increase achievements in the light of their out-of-school factors and circumstances," Walters said.
"The Achievement Awards recognize those meeting all requirements of the state education board to reach Level V, the highest possible ranking," he said, adding that eight school districts received both honors this year.
School districts receiving Value Added Awards include Alcorn County, Amite County, Biloxi, Booneville, Corinth, Durant, Greenwood, Gulfport, Hazlehurst, Hollandale, Jefferson Davis County, Kosciusko, Leflore County, Leland, Madison County, Oxford, Pass Christian, Petal, Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, Poplarville, Senatobia, Shaw, South Tippah, Tupelo, and Yazoo City.
Accreditation Awards go to Booneville, Clinton, Corinth, Itawamba Agricultural High School, Madison County, Ocean Springs, Oxford, Petal, Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, and Tupelo.
The Jan. 28-30 PREPS conference is drawing nearly 200 educators to a variety of sessions at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jackson. "Questions with Answers: Improving Student Achievement" is the theme for this year's gathering.