ℹ️ What This Is
Mississippi releases its official school accountability results several months after students take the test. In the meantime, your testing vendor releases score files first. SchoolStatus' Preliminary Results 2026 module utilizes those files to provide you with an early indication of where your schools and district stand — built from the same data that the official results will use.
💡What You Can See
Once your data is connected, the module shows:
District and school summary
- Proficiency estimates by subject — ELA, math, and science — as tables and donut charts
- Performance-level breakdowns (levels 1A through 5)
- Growth estimates, including growth of the lowest-performing 25% of students
- Filters by school, test type, English learner status, SPED, and alternate tester
Student-level detail
A row for every test result, showing: student name, state ID, EL and SPED status, school, test type, grade, scale score, performance level, prior-year score and level, proficiency and growth flags, and whether the student met full-academic-year (FAY) requirements for your school and district.
What Is (and Isn't) Included
The module estimates three components of Mississippi's accountability model:
- Proficiency — the share of students scoring proficient or above
- Growth — whether a student moved up at least one performance level year over year
- Growth of the lowest-performing 25% — the same growth measure, focused on your highest-need students
🔍 Why Your Data May Be Incomplete
Two things must be in place before estimates appear for your district:
Connected test data
We pull your Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) files directly. If your district or data vendor has not yet provided access credentials, we have no data to work from. Contact your SchoolStatus representative if you do not see your district.
Historical data (up to five years)
Growth estimates require a prior-year score for comparison. Some subjects — like Algebra I, English II, and Biology can be tested in middle school but count toward high school accountability. Getting that right requires data going back as far as 2021-22. If older files are missing, some students will not show a growth estimate.
Full Academic Year (FAY) and Where Results Are Attributed
FAY determines which school and district receive credit for a student's result, based on where they were enrolled for the full year, not just where they took the test.
The FAY file is delivered separately from test scores. Until it arrives for the current year:
- Results are attributed to the school where the student tested.
- The Met School FAY and Met District FAY columns will appear blank.
Once the FAY file is in, attributions and flags update automatically.
When Will My Data Be Complete?
Your testing vendor releases score files on a rolling basis — by grade and subject, not all at once. Results appear in the module as each file is released, so the picture fills in over several weeks rather than arriving complete on a single date.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why doesn't a student have a growth estimate?
A: Growth requires a prior-year test score to compare against. A student will not show growth if: it is their first tested grade, we do not have the prior year on file, or they switched between an alternate and a general assessment (those two are not comparable). Science does not have a growth measure at all.
Q: I can see 2025 data, but not 2026. Why?
A: The vendor releases files by grade and subject on a rolling schedule. If the 2025-26 file for a particular grade or subject has not been released yet, that section will remain blank while prior years display. No action is needed on your end — results appear automatically as files arrive.
Q: My FAY columns are blank. Is something wrong?
A: Not necessarily. FAY columns are blank until the state delivers the current-year FAY file to us. In the meantime, results are attributed to where each student tested. Once the FAY file arrives, the columns will populate and attributions will update.
Q: My district doesn't appear at all. What should I do?
A: If your district is missing entirely, we likely do not have your MAAP data on file. The most common cause is missing or expired access credentials. Please reach out to your SchoolStatus representative and they will work with the integrations team to resolve it.
Q: Our estimates don't match the official state results. Why?
A: A small number of items in the state's calculation are not modeled in our estimates: English language proficiency, first-year English-learner rules, and a grade-mismatch exclusion the state applies. These gaps are why the results are labeled estimates. For official figures, always refer to the state's published accountability report.
Q: Can I use these results in public communications?
A: We recommend not using preliminary estimates in public-facing communications. These numbers are intended to support internal planning before official results are released. Official results from the Mississippi Department of Education are the appropriate source for public reporting.
Q: Will I be notified when new data has been loaded?
A: Notifications are handled through your district's single point of contact (SPOC). When new or updated data is released, our team communicates with your SPOC, who then distributes the information to school leaders. There is currently no separate automated notification within the module itself.
Q: Can I export the results or student-level data?
A: Yes. The student detail view can be exported as a .pdf or .csv file.
Q: Can I compare this year's preliminary estimates to prior years? Is historical trend reporting available?
A: Not within this module. Because maintaining year-over-year historical results is significant ongoing work, we recommend referring to the state's official Student Level Accountability Information File (SLAIF) and the associated aggregated estimates in the Department of Education's published 'impact files' for trend comparisons. These are the authoritative sources for historical accountability data — our module is designed to fill the gap before official results are released, not to serve as a multi-year archive.
Q: How should we actually use these preliminary estimates?
A: Districts commonly use the estimates to identify schools that may need additional support, prepare for leadership conversations ahead of the new school year, and begin drafting improvement plans. Specifically, many districts review whether proficiency varies meaningfully by subject, check that students in the lowest-performing subgroup are showing growth at each grade level, and use the early picture to get a head start on planning before official results arrive.
Q: Who can access this module? Is it just district admins, or can school leaders and teachers see it too?
A: Access typically starts with district and school admins. Teachers can also view the module once they've been granted access by your district. Your district's single point of contact (SPOC) manages who within your organization has access, based on your district's preferences.
Q: Can users see data for schools outside their assigned permissions?
A: No. Users can only see results for students within their permission scope — based on course schedules, student groups, or school- and district-level admin access. This holds even for students who transferred from another school; while a test record may reference where a student tested, visibility is still governed by your organization's permission settings.
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