Our fellow Mississippians who felt the effects of last week’s devastating tornados remain uppermost in the thoughts and prayers of those of us at the Parents’ Campaign.

During Teacher Appreciation Week, I am reminded of the tremendous role that teachers play in comforting and nurturing our children in times of crises, large and small. Please join me in thanking Mississippi teachers for the thousands of ways that they lift up our children and nudge them toward the realization of their dreams.

This is an important time for our children, their teachers and their schools, as students are asked to demonstrate on state tests what they have learned throughout the year. High school students must show that they have mastered basic elements of algebra, biology, English and history in order to earn a high school diploma. And next week, our students in grades three through eight will take the MCT2, which is intended to give parents, teachers and communities an idea of how well our schools are meeting their goals of bringing students to grade-level proficiency or beyond in reading, language arts and mathematics.

Teachers, students and parents have important roles to play throughout the school year to ensure that students get the most from their education. During this testing season, there are additional things that we parents can do to ensure that our students do their best on these assessments, such as making sure your student gets adequate sleep each night before tests and serving your student a good breakfast on test days.

Because schools are required to have a proctor in each classroom where state testing is taking place, anothe,r nice gesture parents can make is to contact the school principal to see if additional volunteers are needed to proctor the tests, monitor hallways, etc. It only takes a few hours, and your school will appreciate your offer of assistance.

I am so very thankful for all the ways that parents, educators and communities are banding together to support public schools and ensure that every Mississippi child gets a shot at a bright future. What a blessing.

 

Nancy Loome

Executive director of the Parents’ Campaign