Mississippi school rankings were recently released and George County High School dropped from an A ranking to a B ranking.

   Principal Wade Whitney feels that a drop in graduation rates is the number one contributor to the B ranking. He also attributes a drop in test scores to the ranking. While Whitney was not pleased with the B ranking, he feels that this on-coming year the school will be back to an A ranking.

   “I have a lot of confidence in this group’s test scores and I feel very certain that graduation rates will be up this year and we’ll be back to an A,” said Whitney.

  Dr. Jennifer Mathis also feels that graduation rates had the largest effect on the ranking. 

“The rates went down from 89% to 83%  and that was definitely the biggest contributor,” said Dr. Mathis.

   Points in growth on students’ state test scores also went down. Less students showed proficient scores. 

   Dr. Mathis feels that it will take the whole school to improve the ranking and bring it back to an A. 

“It takes the whole school working together, it’s not just certain students or state tested teachers. Every student, every teacher, and every administrator has to work towards this,” said Dr. Mathis.

   From a district wide standpoint, Whitney plans to start at the elementary level and make sure everyone is on the same page. 

“We all need to be speaking the same language and attacking the same deficiencies that we identify at the school’s levels,” said Whitney. 

   Whitney and Dr. Mathis both feel that GCHS is not a B school and plan to work to improve the ranking and become an A school again.