This week, the Mississippi Department of Education will release 2015-2016 MAP scores for all public school districts. These proficiency scores reflect achievement on the new state assessment called MAP that students took Spring 2016; they will not include student growth scores or school grades, which are expected to be released later this fall. Mississippi students have taken a different state assessment in each of the last three years, making understanding and interpreting school data challenging. This explainer is intended to help the press, parents, and the public understand and interpret the 2015-2016 MAP scores. In general, we expect to see scores remain at the level of the 2014-2015 PARCC scores, which is to say that the percentage of students scoring proficient will be much lower under MAP than under the old MCT2. To understand why, read more!