One of just 20 districts to receive High Performing status, Superintendent Dr. Randy Poss was thrilled with his district's results.
"This is the result of our community's support," Poss said. "Our community highly values education. Every group I have met with since I began has shown me how important education is to this community."
Both Winona schools scored 172 of 300 on the new ranking model. The state average was 149. Winona was in the company of other larger school districts that also were ranked high performing - Long Beach School District, Madison School District, Ocean Springs School District, Oxford School District, and DeSoto School District to name a few. Only two schools in the state received the top ranking, Star School - Pass Christian Public School District and Booneville School District.
"We were the only district in the center of the state to be ranked High Performing or higher," Poss said. "There was not another school down the Highway 82 corridor that was ranked as High Performing."
In fact, the closest districts would be Senatobia Municipal School District and Madison County School District.
In the past, Mississippi ranked its school one through five, but according to Poss, the scores only reflected the districts competing against other districts in Mississippi. The new ranking system ranks Mississippi's districts against the national average.
The rankings now are divided into seven levels instead of five: Star School, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, and Failing.
"Successful and above are all above the national average," Poss said.
Despite this year's success, Poss said his staff is busy working to improve the ranking next year.
"Our people are working hard and keep demanding more and more from the students," Poss said. "The [ranking grades] will increase over the next four years, so we have to keep moving up. We can't just stay the same and still be ranked as High Performing."
Poss said the Mississippi Department of Education hopes increasing the difficulty of achievement will boast Mississippi's scores to meet the national level. With new challenges in store for Winona schools in the future, Poss and his staff are preparing students for the April standardized test.
"We are trying to identify those kids that were on the fence and continue to work with those who were above to continue to climb," Poss said.
The district currently has two coordinators, Renee Pearson and Holly Bridges, for grades kindergarten through eighth to help students who have struggled in the past.
"They have identified those students they wish to concentrate and have designed plans to work through their weaknesses," Poss said.
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