College and Career Readiness Planning Program; create.
The legislation is designed to address several key issues connected to students' preparedness for postsecondary education. Many students enter college needing noncredit remedial courses, which not only extends their time to obtain a degree but also incurs additional costs. This program aims to provide early benchmarks for student performance that will help inform academic counseling and improve course selection during high school, thereby enhancing students' college and workforce readiness skills. It also seeks to gather statewide data to understand trends and inform future policy and program development.
House Bill 1408 proposes the establishment of the College and Career Readiness Planning Program in Mississippi. The intent of the bill is to create a precollege readiness assessment program aimed at lowering educational costs, shortening the time required for students to complete their degree, and increasing their overall success rates. This bill mandates that all eighth-grade students take the EXPLORE assessment and all tenth-grade students take either the PLAN or PSAT, ensuring that they possess necessary career readiness skills to compete in the global economy. The enactment of this program is set to begin with the 2024-2025 school year.
While the intention behind HB 1408 is focused on improving educational outcomes, it may face scrutiny about implementation and effectiveness. Critics may argue that additional testing could put stress on students or that the funding needs to be adequately addressed. Importantly, the bill also requires the State Department of Education to collect data and report on the effectiveness of the program, raising questions about how the assessments will be conducted and how results will be used to drive improvements in educational practices.