Mississippi Receives 2016 Frank Newman Award for State Innovation

Sen. Gray Tollison

Education Commission of the States recently awarded Mississippi with the Frank Newman Award for State Innovation for its educational reform package that includes placing importance on early reading skills, creating a grading system for schools and increasing the number of charter schools.

The Frank Newman Award for State Innovation recognizes a state for any of the following qualifications:

• Education improvement efforts that are replicable and hold valuable lessons for other states.
• Bold and courageous policies, including existing approaches with evidence of significant impact on student achievement in the state.
• Policies or programs that have bipartisan, broad-based support.

Education Commission of the States Chair and Montana Governor Steve Bullock will present the award on Thursday, June 30, at the National Forum on Education Policy in Washington, D.C.

The chair of the Mississippi Senate Education Committee is Gray Tollison, senator of District 9 that oversees Lafayette and Panola Counties. He is pleased with the recognition.

Sen. Gray Tollison said, “It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teachers and educators across the state to improve student achievement. As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I hope this award will convey to the rest of the country that Mississippi is seeing a significant and positive impact on student learning, particularly with efforts to improve literacy with policies implemented through the Literacy Promotion Act.”

State governor Phil Bryant signed Education Works legislation in 2013 which increased teacher payment and gave incentives to Mississippi students to remain within state to teach.

“Reforming and modernizing our public education system to give parents and students more choice and the opportunity for better outcomes has been a priority of my administration since I first took office,” said Gov. Phil Bryant, who was elected in November 2015 to his second term. “Parents know their children best. Options – good options – should be available when it comes time to pick a school. I’m proud to say our education measures will provide those options. I thank the Education Commission of the States for recognizing Mississippi’s work to make our public education system the most innovative in America.”

Education Commission of the States said on its website that the “Magnolia State has seen clear results” from the education reform package including Literacy Based Promotion Act of 2013 which helped 92 percent of third-graders pass the state reading exam. It also reports that Mississippi was “one of only two states to see increases in NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores at both 4th and 8th grade levels.”

“The dedication we are seeing in Mississippi to improve outcomes for students of all ages is quite impressive and is absolutely paying off,” said Education Commission of the States President Jeremy Anderson. “We are honored to present them with the Frank Newman Award for State Innovation.”

For questions or additional information, contact Education Commission of the States Director of Communications Amy Skinner at askinner@ecs.org or (303) 299.3609.

Callie Daniels Bryant contributed to this article. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.

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