Administrators, parents, students and community members alike in Marion County should all be pleased with the state grades approved Thursday by the Mississippi Department of Education.
Both the Columbia School District and the Marion County School District received Bs, with Marion County rising from a C and Columbia remaining at that level.
While Columbia didn’t jump a letter grade, it improved by 36 points from 2018, and a similar jump next year would land it as an A as it fell 29 points shy of the top mark.
Improving Jefferson Middle School was the district’s primary this goal this year, and it accomplished it with the junior high increasing from a D to a C. I’ve been to a few of the city school board’s meetings, and there is no doubt it is invested to ensure the school’s arrow is pointing up.
While Columbia High School remained a B, both the primary and elementary schools dropped from an A to a B. However, there really shouldn’t be any backlash for the regression because it really is like splitting hairs. The elementary school missed being an A by a measly 7 points on a 700-point scale, and the primary school fell 10 points shy.
On top of that, when it comes to state scores the hardest thing for an A school to do is to remain an A because overall growth is a big component of the final score. When a school is already an A, it’s extremely difficult to hit the benchmarks for growth to remain at that level. In the four growth categories the two schools came in between 50 and 58 percent, while the majority of A schools were in the 60s and 70s.
The county schools’ improvement largely stems from the big leaps made at West Marion Primary, which rose from a C to an A, and West Marion High School, which jumped from a D to a B. East Marion High School also improved, rising from a D to a C. The only regression was at West Marion Elementary, which dropped from a B to a C.
Everybody should be encouraged by those results, and it’s truly a reflection of the hard work and dedication put in from top to bottom at the schools. But it also illustrates the commitment of parents who are active in their children’s education.
Of the five surrounding districts by proximity, both Columbia and Marion County are behind only one other district. Lamar County, which consists of Sumrall, Oak Grove, Purvis, Lumberton and Baxterville, tops the list as an A district. Lawrence County earned a B, but its B is lower than both Columbia and Marion County. Jefferson Davis County schools received a C, and Hattiesburg and Walthall County are in the back of the pack as D districts.
Again, there should be nothing but positives to draw away from comparing our local school district to the surrounding area. Placing second and third out of the seven is a good place to be, especially considering Lamar County is one of the most prosperous areas in the state with some of the most well-funded schools. The comparable performance of the Columbia and Marion County districts shows that the schools are on the right path.
The numbers are even better when it comes to graduation rates among the seven districts.
Columbia leads the way at 94.3 percent, followed by Lamar County at 92.1, Marion County (91.1), Lawrence County (90), Jeff Davis County (80.1), Hattiesburg (71.6) and Walthall County (68.2).
The community throughout Marion County needs to take notice of what the two districts have done to make improvements and recognize how well they compare to the surrounding area.
Joshua Campbell is sports editor of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him via email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com or call (601) 736-2611.
