A headline on the front page of this publication last Friday was somewhat pessimistic stating that South Panola School District’s ranking, Academic Watch, was achieved despite gains.

It wasn’t wrong, but a more optimistic spin on the headline would have stated, “SP High School retains “high performing” ranking while three of four show improvement.”

I’m talking about recently released state accountability results that are derived from testing last spring with the Mississippi Curriculum Test for Intermediate through Junior High classes and subject area testing and graduation percentages for the high school.

One interesting aspect to the high school’s higher rating is that it has been achieved consistently for several years in a row while the school has had four principals in about that many years.

Most other district schools missed their prescribed growth rate by minute amounts causing Superintendent Dr. Keith Shaffer to explain that Batesville Middle School’s mark was missed by .005, which could have amounted to as little as one student doing poorly. Batesville Junior High missed growth by .072 and Pope missed by .061.

And while we in the South Panola District are looking at modest improvement, those on the north end have also seen areas of improvement at troubled North Panola which has been in conservatorship since 2008. Reports of needed improvement there are also encouraging and for the most part, we are heading in the right direction.

That we have to look to standardized test scores to judge learning is a sign of the times and in this world of one-size-fits-all it’s about the best way found thus far to measure educating the masses with students coming from so many different backgrounds and economic situations.

Please know that even though our teams aren’t winning every outing, some good things, including learning, are going on throughout our county’s schools.