JACKSON, Miss. – Mannsdale Upper Elementary School third-grade teacher Kayla Saxton received the surprise of a lifetime in Madison this morning when she was presented with the prestigious Milken Educator Award and its accompanying unrestricted $25,000 cash prize.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is announcing today the establishment of the Mississippi Blue Ribbon School program, following the termination of the U.S. Department of Education’s former National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in August. This state-level program will continue the annual recognition of the state’s highest-performing schools.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has designated three Institutions of Higher Learning as Mississippi Emerging Science of Reading Educator Preparation Programs and one institution as a Mississippi Science of Reading Educator Preparation Program for the 2025-26 school year.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has released the 2024-25 Chronic Absenteeism Report, which shows Mississippi's chronic absenteeism rate rose to 27.6%, representing 120,408 students who missed important instructional time in the last school year. This reflects an increase from the 2023-24 rate of 24.4%.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – During the 2024-25 school year, 11,393 Mississippi public school students took 16,145 Advanced Placement exams, with a record high of 9,155 exams earning a qualifying score. The rate of exams achieving a qualifying score reached an all-time high of 56.7%.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education through its Mississippi Teacher Residency (MTR) program is awarding $2,968,855 in grants to nine Mississippi Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) to cover tuition and expenses for up to 236 individuals seeking licensure in elementary and special education.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – Three Mississippi students have been named 2025 U.S. Presidential Scholars. The students are Alexis Griffith of Long Beach High School, Nichols E. Katsaboulas of Jackson Prep, and Jackson Pearce of Gulfport High School.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) released accountability grades for the 2024-25 school year, which show 80.1% of schools and 87.2% of districts earned a grade of C or higher. This represents a decrease from the 2023-24 school year, when 85.7% of schools and 93.9% of districts earned a C or higher.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) announced today the 114 members of the 2025-26 State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (SAC). The council includes students in grades 11-12 and college freshmen attending a Mississippi college or university.Read More

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has redesigned its teacher recruitment website, TeachMS.org, that markets the teaching profession in Mississippi while breaking down the teacher preparation and licensure process into easy-to-understand steps.Read More