State Superintendent of Education

Dr. Lance Evans
State Superintendent of Education

Dr. Lance Evans began serving as State Superintendent of Education in July 2024. He has more than two decades of experience as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, elementary principal, high school principal, and district superintendent.

During his seven-year tenure as superintendent of the New Albany School District, the district earned an A rating and maintained it for six consecutive years while ranking among the top 10% in Mississippi for overall academic performance. The district increased its graduation rate from 82% to 95.5% and implemented a districtwide workforce development program.

As State Superintendent, Dr. Evans has focused on building upon Mississippi’s academic gains, including rising to No. 16 in the nation for education according to the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book. Key initiatives include the Mississippi Superintendent Institute to equip district leaders with tools to lead strong school systems; a new Office of School and District Transformation to provide support to low-performing schools and districts and oversee districts under state control; and the Mississippi REACH remote teaching program, which enables educators to teach students in real-time in multiple districts simultaneously.

Achievements in 2024-25

• Mississippi remained one of only five states meeting all 10 National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) quality standards for pre-K.
• Third-grade students achieved 77.3% on the initial reading assessment, the state’s highest rate.
• Fourth-grade students ranked No. 9 in the nation for reading scores and No. 16 for math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
• Dual credit enrollment reached 17.3% of all students, with 96.3% of students earning college credits.
• 56.7% of Advanced Placement tests achieved a qualifying score of 3 or above, the state’s highest rate of success.
• The graduation rate reached 89.2%, exceeding the national average.

Dr. Evans is currently working to expand Mississippi’s successful early literacy reforms into middle school, implement a math coaching initiative in grades 2-6, and create a K-12 workforce development plan to expose students to careers throughout their school experience.

Dr. Evans’ awards include the 2023 Mississippi Superintendent of the Year and the 2015 Mississippi Principal of the Year. He has served on the boards of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents, the Mississippi Association of School Administrators and the Governing Board for the American Association of School Administrators.

Dr. Evans earned his bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University, his master’s degree from the University of Mississippi, and his doctorate degree from Delta State University.

He and his wife Brandy have two children, Katie, a college senior, and Landon, a high school junior.

Headshot: Dr. Lance Evans
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