In the face of substantial budget cuts to the Mitchell County School system, recent information about test scores and progress has given the school system much about which to celebrate.

For the first time since the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures were implemented, Mitchell County Schools as a whole reached the substantial AYP goals.  In order to accomplish this feat, the school system had to meet all 38 prescribed goals.  Individually, seven out of the nine schools achieved AYP status.  In comparison, only 4 schools achieved AYP status last year.

In addition, based upon preliminary results, again seven of nine of the schools in Mitchell County achieved growth status as defined by state standards with six of those seven schools being designated as achieving high growth.

Finally, both our student achievement and graduation rates have increased for the 3rd straight year.  Our overall achievement rates, which were at 73.9% in 2009, and at 81.2% in 2010 have now risen to 82.8%.  In addition, the graduation rate has increased from 70.9% in 2009 to 73.1% in 2010 to now 80%.

These statistics clearly demonstrate that hard work and effort are producing great dividends and that the major focus of Mitchell County Schools, that is, providing the best possible, optimum educational experience for our most important stakeholders, our students, continues to be a great motivation for the administration, faculty and staff of each school.