Utica, Miss.—U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that Mississippi has successfully crafted a high-quality state accountability system aligned with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. The state's plan received Paige's approval today.

Paige made the announcement during the Centennial Celebration at Hinds Community College. During the event, the secretary also received the Sports Hall of Fame Award for his exemplary coaching career.

"I have just this morning approved Mississippi's plan, and I congratulate your state superintendent of education, Dr. Henry Johnson, and everyone who worked so hard in partnership with us to get this done," Paige said. "This is a huge achievement. And a well deserved one.

"It's proof that Mississippi is thoughtfully looking at how to better address its education needs. And now—thanks to everyone's hard work—there is a strategy in place to get results for all of the children of Mississippi."

Under NCLB's strong accountability provisions, states must describe how they will close the achievement gap and make sure all students, including disadvantaged students, achieve academic proficiency. In addition, they must produce annual state and school district report cards that inform parents and communities about state and school progress and schools that do not make progress must provide supplemental services, take corrective actions and, if still failing to make adequate yearly progress after five years, must implement alternative governance actions.

Mississippi is the first state to gain approval since President Bush announced approval of plans from Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts and New York on Jan. 8.

No Child Left Behind is the landmark education reform law designed to change the culture of America's schools by closing the achievement gap, offering more flexibility, giving parents more options and teaching students, based on what works.

Foremost among the four key principles is an insistence on stronger accountability for results. To achieve that, states must develop strong accountability systems or improve those already in place, establish high standards and hold all children to the same standards. They also must provide instruction by highly qualified teachers that results in steady progress and ultimately, proficiency for all students by the 2013-14 school year.

In a major speech delivered last week, Secretary Paige pointed out that the new law aims to correct the "previous and pervasive 'separate and unequal' education systems that taught only some students well while the rest—mostly poor and mostly minority—floundered or flunked out."

Paige has noted that the law for the first time injects accountability into state and local education systems by requiring a single accountability system for all students in a state. While states were required to develop single accountability systems under the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in reality, few states did so and most instead kept intact one system of expectations for advantaged students and one lower set of expectations for disadvantaged students.

All states submitted draft accountability plans to the U.S. Department of Education by the Jan. 31 deadline.

Following an initial review and technical assistance, if needed, the next step is on-site peer review of the state's proposed accountability plan. Teams of three peer reviewers—independent, nonfederal education policy, reform or statistical experts—conduct each peer review. Following a review of the team's consensus report, the Department provides feedback to the state and works with the state to resolve any outstanding issues. Ultimately, Secretary Paige approves the state plan, as he did today.

To date, 33 states have had peer reviews of their state plans, and 44 states have had informal meetings with senior Department officials to discuss their accountability plans.

Mississippi's plan will be posted online in the coming days at: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/CFP/csas/index.html.

For more information about the No Child Left Behind Act, go to www.nochildleftbehind.gov.

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