Academic success continues throughout the five school districts in the Pine Belt News coverage area – Petal School District, Hattiesburg Public School District, Lamar County School District, Forrest County School District and Forrest County Agricultural High School – as each of those districts has received an overall A score from the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System for the second year in a row.
The results, which were released September 28 by the Mississippi Department of Education, rank each district and school throughout the state with a performance “grade” rating of A, B, C, D or F. Those grades are based on established criteria regarding student achievement, individual student growth, graduation rate, and participation rate.
The following is a precise rundown of how each district and school in the coverage area fared on the system.
PETAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
The district earned an A overall with 766 proficiency points, ranking first in the coverage area and fourth in the state behind only Ocean Springs School District, Long Beach School District and Clinton Public School District. Graduation rate in the district is 98.6 percent, up from last year’s 96.3 percent.
Individual schools in the district ranked as follows:
- Petal High School earned an A with 849 proficiency points, good for 14th in the state and up from last year’s 779. Graduation rate at the school, which is the only high school in the district, is 98.6 percent.
- Petal Primary School earned an A with 516 proficiency points, up from last year’s 492.
- Petal Upper Elementary School earned an A with 470 proficiency points, down from last year’s 479.
- Petal Middle School earned an A with 452 proficiency points, down from last year’s 470.
- Petal Elementary School earned an A with 492 proficiency points, down from last year’s 503.
The district has been awarded an A score every year under the current accountability model, which was instituted in 2013.
“For our district and all five schools to be rated A through the accountability model is exciting for our district,” superintendent Matt Dillon said. “It’s become our expectation to work extremely hard in the classroom, and our teachers do an amazing job, along with our support staff and leadership, and then our students by into what we’re doing.
“For us to maintain the consistency that we’ve had over the last decade, I could not be more proud. There’s many moving parts to the accountability model, which is still heavily weighted toward growth, and the category that we have continued to control is the proficiency category. So I’m proud of the results that we have wielded yet again this year regarding our work in the classroom.”
Dillon attributes the district’s continued success to its people, from administration to teachers, students, faculty and staff.
“Our people are second to none – their attention to detail, their knowledge of the curriculum, their connections with students,” he said. “Our bus drivers play a role; they get our students to and from school.
“Our child nutrition plays a role (by) feeding our students to make sure they can focus on their studies. Our maintenance staff contributes to a conducive learning environment, and of course our teachers just do an amazing job of working our (Professional Learning Communities) to get better at what they do every day.”
HATTIESBURG PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
The district garnered an A overall and ranked 40th in the state with 696 proficiency points, up from last year’s 690. Graduation rate at the school is 94.8 percent, up from last year’s 89.7 percent.
Individual schools in the district ranked as follows:
- For the first time since rankings began, Hattiesburg High School has earned an A rating with 786 proficiency points, a big jump from last year’s 690. Graduation rate at the school is 94.8 percent.
- Rowan Elementary School earned an A with 536 proficiency points, up from last year’s 517.
- Woodley Elementary School earned an A with 496 proficiency points, down from last year’s 502.
- Grace Christian Elementary School earned an A with 515 proficiency points, up from last year’s 465.
- Hawkins Elementary School earned an A with 482 proficiency points, up from last year’s 444.
- Thames Elementary School earned an A with 501 proficiency points, up from last year’s 420.
- N.R. Burger Middle School earned a B with 385 proficiency points, down from last year’s 380.
- Hattiesburg STEAM Academy earned a D with 326 proficiency points, down from last year’s 375.
“Congratulations to the students, teachers, parents, and the City of Hattiesburg,” superintendent Robert Williams said. “For the second year, Hattiesburg Public Schools received an A rating for its performance as part of the Mississippi Accountability System.”
LAMAR COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The district earned an A with 718 proficiency points, up from last year’s 696 and good for 26th in the state. The graduation rate in the district is 89.6 percent.
Individual schools in the district ranked as follows:
- Oak Grove High School earned an A with 831 proficiency points, up from last year’s 779. The school has a graduation rate of 89.9 percent.
- Sumrall High School earned an A with 808 proficiency points, up from last year’s 717. The school’s graduation rate is 94.5 percent.
- Purvis High School earned an A with 805 proficiency points, up from last year’s 711. The school has a graduation rate of 84.7 percent.
- Lumberton High School earned a B with 627 proficiency points, up from last year’s 612. The school has a graduation rate of 84.1 percent.
- Longleaf Elementary School earned an A with 513 proficiency points, up from last year’s 469.
- Sumrall Elementary School earned an A with 495 proficiency points, up from last year’s 463.
- Oak Grove Elementary School earned an A with 464 proficiency points.
- Oak Grove Middle School earned a B with 421 proficiency points, up from last year’s 409.
- Bellevue Elementary School earned an A with 488 proficiency points.
- Purvis Lower Elementary School earned a B with 384 proficiency points, down from last year’s 423.
- Sumrall Middle School earned a B with 430 proficiency points, up from last year’s 421.
- Purvis Upper Elementary School earned a B with 394 proficiency points, down from last year’s 413.
- Baxterville School earned a B with 406 proficiency points, up from last year’s 383.
- Purvis Middle School earned an A with 468 proficiency points, up from last year’s 362.
- Lumberton Elementary School earned a D with 320 proficiency points, down from last year’s 358.
“I’m extremely proud of our accountability rating; we grew 22 points (since) last school year,” superintendent Steven Hampton said. “I’m very proud of the fact that our rating was a 709 in the 2018-2019 school year – the year before we went home for COVID – and now it’s a 718, which is the highest accountability score that we’ve had as a district.
“It just speaks to the volume of work that our teachers, our students, our parents, have done to continue that academic excellence in our district. It’s just the ‘roll up your sleeves’ hard work of our teachers, our staff, our people in our district. Our students work extremely hard, and we could not do what we do without our parental support in our district.”
FORREST COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The district earned an A with a total of 683 proficiency points, which is the same as last year and good for 50th in the state. The graduation rate in the district is 89.1 percent.
Individual schools in the district ranked as follows:
- North Forrest High School earned a B with 675 proficiency points, down from last year’s 678. The graduation rate in the district is 89.1 percent.
- South Forrest Attendance Center earned an A with 500 proficiency points, up from last year’s 454.
- North Forrest Attendance Center earned a B with 441 proficiency points, up from last year’s 365 points and C rating.
- Earl Travillion Attendance Center earned a D with 298 proficiency points, down from last year’s 358.
- Dixie Attendance Center earned an A with 461 proficiency points, down from last year’s 490.
- Rawls Springs Attendance Center earned a B with 391 points, down from last year’s 465.
This marks the second year in a row the district has received an A rating overall, after receiving a B for several years before that.
“We certainly were excited to have consecutive As,” superintendent Brian Freeman said. “We made some great gains in our proficiency levels that we were real excited about, and every school pretty much made some improvements in certain areas.
“We did have a drop at Earl Traviliion, which disappointed us, but we’ve had some leadership issues there that we’ve addressed, and we’ve made some adjustments to their improvement plans. So we hope that’s going to take care of that there, but overall we’re very pleased. We’ve certainly got to stay diligent with moving toward what’s best for our children.”
FORREST COUNTY AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL
The high school, along with the district, received an A rating. The district and school received 756 proficiency points, up from last year’s 711, good for 9th in the state.
The high school itself, which is the only school in the district, features an 86.3 graduation rate.
“That’s a huge deal,” superintendent Adam Stone said. “I got here in June (after former superintendent Donna Boone accepted a position with the Mississippi Department of Education), and Dr. Boone and (principal William) Wheat and the administration team that was here, along with the teachers here from last year, did a great job.
“They did everything that you need to do to get those kids where they need to be. They did a great job, and a lot of hard work and dedication goes into it.”
As Forrest County AHS is on a different point system than the district itself, it is possible for the school to receive a different grade than the school. For example, to be awarded an A, a school must earn 754 points; however, an A district is required to have more than 600 points.
“We are over-the-moon excited,” Wheat said. “We attribute it to the teachers – it’s that simple – they’re the ones in the classroom every day that are in control of what’s going on.
“And I’m proud of our kids; our teachers teach every day, and our students learn. They’re the ones that make it happen. We are an A school in an A school district, and I think that’s important that our teachers (be recognized for that).”
