The South Panola School District received a B grade again this year in the Mississippi Department of Education’s accountability grades program, but Superintendent Dr. Del Phillips was excited to see the score is just four points shy of the A rated districts in the state. 

The rankings, released on Tuesday, are based on accountability results from the 2023-2024 school year.

“I’m proud of the academic results of our students, teachers, parents, and campus leaders,” Phillips said. “They worked extremely hard to raise their achievement levels to the highest on record for South Panola Schools.  I believe our future at SP is very bright – Tiger Pride.”

South Panola earned 664 points, the 60th-highest district in the state out of 149 districts.

South Panola received A’s for Batesville Elementary, Batesville Intermediate, Batesville Middle, and Batesville High School.  Pope School received a B grade and Batesville Junior High was given a grade of C again this year, but those students showed improvement in test scores and the school was close to a B grade.

Dr. Ashley Fonte, Chief of Academics and Accountability for the district, said teamwork was the key to the successful state results. 

“I am incredibly proud of the academic progress achieved by both our staff and students.  Their dedication and hard work are evident every day.  I am excited to continue on this path and look forward to the continued growth and success of our district,” Fonte said.  

The North Panola School District garnered 563 points to remain a C rated district. Tate County School District received a C, Senatobia Schools were rated as a B. Both Oxford and Lafayette County Schools were A districts.

Each year, schools are given points for their overall performance and growth on statewide tests, as well as a district’s graduation rate. The grades and points awarded to each school and district are determined by several categories, including improvement on state tests from year to year, if students are graduating within four years and how well schools are doing in helping their lowest-achieving students make progress towards proficiency in reading, math, history and science.

Each school is awarded a point total and a letter grade, which are then averaged to determine the overall point total and letter grade for the school district.  

Statewide student assessment data make up a large part of accountability grades. In 2023-24, the overall percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced reached an all-time high in mathematics, English Language Arts and science.   

The components of the state’s accountability system are based on state and federal law and State Board policy. 

They include: 

• Student proficiency and growth rates in ELA and Mathematics in grades 3-8
• Growth of the lowest performing 25% of students in ELA and Mathematics
• Science proficiency in grades 5 and 8
• English Learner progress toward becoming proficient in the English language
• Performance on the ACT and high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History assessments
• Student participation and performance in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement, career and technical education programs and dual credit/dual enrollment courses
• Four-year graduation rate