County schools get report card from state

By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: July 8, 2008

Jackson County schools have received their letter grades from the state, and the news was mostly good: Five schools improved and four maintained, while two dropped a letter grade.
Five schools got an A, and all got a C or higher this year. This is the first time since 2004 that the local school system can make that claim.
Marianna High School moved from a D to a C this year, but Superintendent of Schools Danny Sims said that letter doesn’t quite reflect the whole truth.
In fact, he said, MHS had enough raw points to get a B, but there was no increase from last year to this year in the learning gains made by the poorest performers, or those in the lower quartile of the student population. That static condition cost the school a two-grade move up the scale, he said.
“They didn’t make learning gains above the 41 percent (achieved last year), so although they’ve improved, we’re still working on it,” Sims said. “We’re working with reading coaches to improve the lower quartile to see if we get movement. That will be the emphasis.”
Like MHS, three other schools earned one letter grade higher than last year. Riverside Elementary and Sneads Elementary schools each went from a B to an A. Cottondale High School went from a C to a B.
Sneads High School made the biggest improvement moving from a C to an A.
Despite those gains, the news was not all good – two other schools dropped from an A grade to a B.
Cottondale Elementary School and Graceville High School went from A to B, Sims said.
“Once you get there (to an A grade), it’s hard to maintain that,” he said, as continued improvement must occur for the A remain in place.
“Those schools are looking at breaking down the results to individual students, to find out where progress wasn’t made. That’s the beauty of technology; you can identify and attack the problem as the school year gets under way.”

To recap:
Five schools received A grades. They are: Marianna Middle, Riverside Elementary, Golson Elementary, Sneads Elementary, and Sneads High schools.
Three received B grades. They are: Cottondale Elementary, Cottondale High and Graceville High schools.
Four received C grades. They are: Graceville Elementary, Grand Ridge, Malone and Marianna High schools.