Jackson Free Press

A real-estate website called Estately figured out the most Googled words for each state.

Apparently, the No. 1 search term for Mississippi was Ashley Madison, the online secret smash site for married folks that got hacked this year. I won't link to it here because I don't believe in pouring salt on wounds.

Plus, let's be honest, you probably already have it (so does Santa).

Other top hits for the Magnolia State included "Straight Outta Compton," the 2015 biopic about a Starter apparel loving musical group from Los Angeles, presumably due to the enduring popularity of the Jheri curl in some parts of Mississippi.

Also, the U.S. Supreme Court was popular because that's where most of the laws our Republican legislators pass eventually end up.

B.B. King for obvs reason none of which have anything to do with restaurants on Farish Street.

FOX news Megyn Kelly was another hot topic here. So was booty.

Rounding out the list were Bobbi Kristina Brown (daughter of singer Whitney Houston, who passed away in 2015) and Common Core State Standards Initiative.

It's interesting to note that given the fact that 2015 was an election year, none of the top search terms had anything to do with our political races.

In other words, booty was more popular "Phil Bryant," "Tate Reeves" or "School funding."

Marinate on that.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/dec/15/23842/

The "No Child Left Behind" Act was overruled and replaced with the "Every Student Succeeds" Act this week. The new law signed will shift a lot of decision-making power for education policy back to the states. President Barack Obama called the law "a big step in the right direction," and its bi-partisan support in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate suggested that is was high-time for some change in education policy.

Mississippi senators, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker both voted in favor of the act on Dec. 9. In a statement, Wicker said: "This is a huge accomplishment that puts students’ chances of success first. For the past several years, the Department of Education has been acting as a de facto National School Board. Education decisions should be in the hands of those who know best – parents, teachers, and governors."

The new law ends federally dictated accountability and improvement standards, but national math and reading exams are still in place. The law encourages states to limit the time students spend taking tests, however, and teacher evaluations will no longer be tied to student performance. The Every Student Succeeds Act also enables states to get rid of Common Core curriculum because the federal government is no longer able to mandate a national curriculum.

Now school goals, achievement and progress will all be calculated and measured by each state. In Mississippi, after a fight in November over the education funding-formula at the polls and a new study reminding Mississippi that the state paid more per pupil in 2008 than now (15.4 percent more), state legislators, teachers, advocates and students will have to come together to implement and pave the way for Mississippi students to get the best education possible.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.