Impact Components
Overview
An Impact is Equity Analytics's representation of a single accountability result for a district, school, or teacher. Equity Analytics rebuilds the Mississippi accountability model component for component, so each impact breaks down into the same measures the state adds together to produce a rating.
Every component is stored as a numerator and denominator (the students who hit the bar over the students who counted) and contributes points toward the district, school, or teacher's scale score. The scale score is the sum of the component points, and it maps to the A through F letter grade. Because the scale score is summed from the components at run time, changing the underlying scores updates the components and the rating together.
How the Model Is Weighted
Mississippi uses two point structures, and the components and their weights differ between them. The weights below include English Language Progress (ELP), which applies only to schools and districts that meet the EL minimum (see English Language Progress below).
Elementary and middle schools (700 points), with English Language Progress:
| Reading | Math | Science | English Language Progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proficiency (95) | Proficiency (95) | Proficiency (95) | Progress to Proficiency (35) |
| Growth All Students (95) | Growth All Students (95) | ||
| Growth Lowest 25% (95) | Growth Lowest 25% (95) |
High schools and districts (1,000 points), with English Language Progress:
| Reading | Math | Science | Graduation 4-Year | Readiness Index | English Language Progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proficiency (95) | Proficiency (95) | Proficiency (47.5) | 4-Year Cohort Rate (190) | Acceleration (47.5) | Progress to Proficiency (50) |
| Growth All Students (95) | Growth All Students (95) | Achievement (47.5) | |||
| Growth Lowest 25% (95) | Growth Lowest 25% (95) | Assessment (47.5) |
When a school or district does not meet the EL minimum, English Language Progress is not calculated. Its 5% share is absorbed back into the other components, so each one lands on its full, round value while the totals stay at 700 and 1,000.
Elementary and middle schools (700 points), without English Language Progress:
| Reading | Math | Science |
|---|---|---|
| Proficiency (100) | Proficiency (100) | Proficiency (100) |
| Growth All Students (100) | Growth All Students (100) | |
| Growth Lowest 25% (100) | Growth Lowest 25% (100) |
High schools and districts (1,000 points), without English Language Progress:
| Reading | Math | Science | Graduation 4-Year | Readiness Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proficiency (100) | Proficiency (100) | Proficiency (50) | 4-Year Cohort Rate (200) | Acceleration (50) |
| Growth All Students (100) | Growth All Students (100) | Achievement (50) | ||
| Growth Lowest 25% (100) | Growth Lowest 25% (100) | Assessment (50) |
The scale score maps to a letter grade against the state's cut points:
| Grade | 1,000-Point Districts | 700-Point Schools | 1,000-Point Schools |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 694 | 457 | 769 |
| B | 642 | 402 | 689 |
| C | 572 | 352 | 627 |
| D | 519 | 277 | 567 |
| F | below 519 | below 277 | below 567 |
Cut Scores
A cut score is the scale-score line a result has to clear. Equity Analytics works from the cut scores Mississippi publishes in the accountability standards and derives every level from them. For district-defined custom cut scores (benchmark ranges), see Custom Cut Scores and Benchmark Ranges.
State cut scores are the published A, B, C, and D scale-score thresholds for each model. Equity Analytics uses the published values directly, and they are year-aware: the thresholds changed beginning with 2026, so older years use the prior thresholds. The values in the table above are the 2026 standards.
District and school cut scores come straight from those published standards:
- District ratings use the published district thresholds.
- School ratings use the published school thresholds.
- Whether the 700-point or 1,000-point set applies depends on whether the district, school, or teacher is scored on the elementary and middle model or the high school model.
Teacher cut scores are derived, because teachers have no separately published standard:
- If the teacher teaches high school students that year, the 1,000-point school thresholds are used; otherwise the 700-point school thresholds are used.
- Those thresholds are then standardized to the teacher's own point total. When a teacher's impact is scored on a different point base than the published standard, each threshold is rescaled in proportion so the A, B, C, and D lines land correctly for that teacher's total.
You can review the derived teacher cut scores in the Teacher Cut Scores view.
Proficiency
Proficiency measures how many students met expectations on the assessment, out of the students who counted toward that district, school, or teacher.
- For grades 3-8 and the high school End-of-Course exams, a student must score Proficiency Level 4 or Level 5 to land in the proficiency numerator.
- For MAAP-A (the alternate assessment), Proficiency Level 3 is proficient.
Proficiency is measured in ELA, Math, and Science. Science proficiency comes from the grade 5 and grade 8 science assessments and the Biology end-of-course exam (science contributes proficiency only, not growth).
Growth
Growth asks whether a student improved as expected from one year to the next, using the state's standards-based growth model. Each subject is measured two ways:
- Growth (all students): growth across every student with a current and prior score.
- Growth (lowest 25%): the same calculation scoped to the lowest-performing 25% of students.
The lowest-25% group has a minimum size floor. If a subgroup's bottom quartile falls below the floor, the group expands in steps, first to the students who are not yet proficient, then to all students in the subgroup, so the measure stays meaningful for small cohorts. For split schools the floor is applied per subgroup: the middle and high parts each get their own lowest-25% group, which is why a small high-school cohort's "lowest 25%" can end up being most or all of that cohort.
Because growth compares two years, a student needs both a prior and a current score to contribute. ELA and Math carry growth; Science does not.
Fall End-of-Course results feed later benchmark impacts
This applies only to districts that give the high-school End-of-Course (EOC) exam to 10th graders in the fall and upload those final scores. When they do, each student's EOC result is counted in every benchmark impact for the rest of that year, not just the period it was uploaded in. So once the fall EOC scores are in, a grade-10 student's benchmark proficiency and growth reflect their real end-of-year result going forward. Districts that do not give the EOC in the fall see no change here; their benchmark impacts use the benchmark-period scores as usual.
Graduation Rate
For high schools and districts, the 4-year cohort graduation rate measures the share of a cohort that graduated on time. It is the single largest component in the 1,000-point model.
Fed by the graduation cohort data your district provides.
Readiness Index
The Readiness Index (formerly College and Career Readiness) applies to high schools and districts and is made up of three equally weighted pieces:
- Acceleration: participation and performance in qualifying acceleration coursework (Advanced Placement, Dual Credit / Dual Enrollment, and Industry Certification). See Acceleration Metrics.
- Achievement: readiness achievement against the Readiness Standard for that district, school, or teacher.
- Assessment: readiness assessment participation and results.
English Language Progress
English Language Progress (ELP) measures whether English learner students are progressing toward English proficiency, using the ELPT (ELPA21) Overall score.
- A school or district needs a minimum of 10 EL students who met Full Academic Year and have both a current and prior year ELPT score.
- First-year EL students are exempt.
- Each student scores between 0 and 1: a student who regresses scores 0, and a student progressing as expected or better scores 1.
- ELP is worth 5% of the total available points (35 on a 700-point school, 50 on a 1,000-point school). When ELP is included, the other components are reduced by a total of 5% to make room for it.
See EL Subgroups for how EL students are grouped.
Third Grade Reading
Third grade reading is governed by the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, which tracks third graders against the state reading promotion cut. It is a promotion gate tracked alongside the model rather than a scale-score component.
Fed by the third grade reading data your district uploads. See Third Grade Pass Rate Upload.
A Note on U.S. History
U.S. History was a proficiency measure in earlier years of the model. As of Spring 2026, U.S. History is no longer a component of the accountability model and does not contribute to the rating. Equity Analytics still stores U.S. History proficiency for reporting, and it may appear in historical data for prior years, but it is not part of the scale score going forward.
Where It Lives
- The Impact Data tile on a district, school, or teacher page opens the impact view, where the components and scale score are laid out together.
- The view can be read per score type (for example MAAP, K-2, Inclusion, Gifted, Feeder).
- CSV and PDF exports are available.
Common Questions
- Why is a growth component lower than I expect? Growth needs a current and a prior score for each student. Students missing a prior year do not contribute.
- Why doesn't my school have a graduation or Readiness Index component? Those apply to the 1,000-point high school and district model. A 700-point elementary or middle school does not carry them.
- Why is there no EL component for my school? ELP only calculates once the school or district has at least 10 qualifying EL students. Below that minimum, no EL measure is produced.
- Where did U.S. History go? It is no longer a scoring component as of Spring 2026. See the note above.
- How does the scale score become a letter grade? The component points are summed into the scale score, which maps to the A through F cut points above.
Support
- Helpdesk Ticket: Helpdesk Ticket
- Website: https://equityanalyticsms.com