New Investment to Help Improve Quality of Education for Mississippi Students and Schools Affected by Katrina

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Department of Education today announced a $5 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate education improvements in Mississippi school districts that are serving more than 10,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The investment will target 50 of the state’s highest need schools which are serving a high percentage of displaced students.

The year-long investment will help the state tackle the combined challenge of serving a large number of recently displaced students now being educated in Mississippi school districts, as well as improving academic rigor and instruction in the aftermath of the hurricane. The investment will support educators with coaching and other professional development and provide instructional resources to improve student achievement in the classroom. Hurricane Katrina affected about 375,000 school children in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas when it devastated the Gulf Coast earlier this year.

“We are extremely pleased about the grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” said Dr. Hank M. Bounds, State Superintendent of Education. “Not only does the grant recognize the additional challenges some schools have faced by enrolling large numbers of students they did not have the opportunity to plan for, but it also provides the resources necessary to accelerate student learning for all students.”

The state has worked aggressively in recent years to improve student achievement and better prepare students for the challenges of college and work. Together with America’s Choice, a school improvement partner working to increase student achievement, the Mississippi Department of Education will utilize the new investment to:

• Recruit 25 highly qualified, experienced educators from across the country to serve as coaches for district leaders, teachers and administrators in 50 elementary, middle and high schools that were not meeting performance benchmarks before the hurricane. The coaches will help students achieve at higher levels and meet the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
  
  
• Help schools provide stronger support for displaced students and families as they make the adjustment to a new school and community.
  
  
• Provide books, resource materials, and professional development support for teachers to improve student achievement in literacy and mathematics in targeted schools.

“These materials that support literacy and mathematics instruction will enable teachers to work more effectively with students who are new to their school by responding to their needs and their interest,” said Dr. Bounds.

“Hundreds of thousands of students and families throughout the Gulf Coast region were tragically uprooted from their family members, friends, homes, schools, and communities as a result of Hurricane Katrina,” said Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Mississippi has made an impressive effort to enroll thousands of these students in its schools, and this investment will help accelerate its commitment to providing all students with a high-quality education based on academic rigor, better teaching, and more personalized support.”

To date, the foundation has invested about $1 billion on efforts to improve the nation’s high school system, including supporting the creation of more than 1,900 high-quality high schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. As of this fall, more than 550 of these new and transformed high schools have opened around the country.