Mississippi has a long history of denying equal educational opportunities to its minority children. To address this issue, the state has implemented a number of strategies to promote educational opportunities in northeastern Mississippi communities. The Tiger Learning Program provides students with the opportunity to gain real-world experience while participating in a technical and professional education (CTE) program of study. This program creates strategic partnerships between universities and industry, encouraging companies to hire qualified staff and students to pursue their educational goals.
Increased spending on education can also help boost economic recovery. Congress has enacted one-time increases in education spending during difficult economic times, but public education spending should be considered an automatic stabilizer of our economic policy toolkit. This would provide a stimulus to aggregate demand when private spending falls. Mississippi has made tremendous strides in the first grades, but the improvement has been more modest in the eighth-grade NAEP scores.
Separation between different breeds is promoted in various ways, including through professional groups, social groups, churches, etc. Joyce Payne, director of the black public university office of the National Association of State Universities and Colleges with Land Grants, has criticized the judge for not giving the Mississippi Valley state more resources to attract white students and avoid closing in the future. Educators and community leaders suggest that the educational process should take place both at home and in schools. Many school systems are embracing the science of reading, due in part to success in Mississippi and elsewhere. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Mississippi has gone from ranking last to half of the exams in most exams and has moved to first place if adjusted for its demographics. In March 1998, members of President Clinton's Advisory Board on Race met at the University of Mississippi to hold a forum dedicated to evaluating community progress on race.
Testimony at the Mississippi Delta hearing led to a harsh accusation against the Mississippi public school system. The Department of Education will host the National Coordinating Conference on STEM to be held in Washington D. C. Across the country, 17.2% of Mississippi whites and 8.8% of Mississippi blacks are enrolled in college compared to 21.5% of whites and 11.4% of blacks nationally.
Ray Anderson believes that, although there are no plans to do so in the immediate future, the Mississippi Valley state will eventually close and Alcorn State will become dependent on Mississippi State University. Mississippi is taking steps towards providing equal educational opportunities for all its citizens by implementing strategies such as the Tiger Learning Program and increasing spending on education. These initiatives have already had a positive impact on NAEP scores and college enrollment rates among minority students. With continued effort, northeastern Mississippi communities can continue to make progress towards providing equal educational opportunities for all its citizens.
