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Neshoba Central reaches milestone with 89.02% of 2021 seniors graduating

Neshoba Central reaches milestone with 89.02% of 2021 seniors graduating

Neshoba Central High School reached a major milestone by graduating 89.02 percent of its 2021 senior class, the highest in school history.

The graduation rate is based on a four-year cohort, which follows students from their freshman through senior years.

Neshoba County Superintendent of Education Lundy Brantley was “super proud” of the achievement.

“It takes a lot of work among our principals, teachers and counselors at the high school,” he said. “While it is on the high school, it’s really a district-wide goal because what students do as a 5-year-old, 10 or 12-year-old affects the high school experience.”

The school district’s graduation rate for the previous year was 81 percent and for the 2019 class it was 86 percent.

In addition, Neshoba Central had 53 Mississippi Scholars and 37 Mississippi Tech Masters during the 2020-2021 school year, both increases from the previous year.

It was the fifth highest in math proficiency statewide and 14th highest in English proficiency statewide.

“We were also one of the highest in acceleration, which is dual credit and national industry certification,” Dr. Brantley said.

Ninety students gained National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER)/ National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) certifications and 39 students gained OSHA 10 certifications in school year 2020-2021.

What’s more, the school district was recognized for excellence by the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools, commonly referred to as PREPS.

Dr. Brantley said a number of things contributed to the graduation rate improvement.

“Some of the things we put in place at the high school over the past four years include an additional counselor and an additional assistant principal,” he said. “This has helped tremendously.”

The high school has added new programs and new opportunities to boost student achievement.

“Moving to the block schedule has helped because it has enabled some students to catch up after falling behind,” Brantley said. “We’ve found new ways of intervention which we now call acceleration. We are intervening earlier to identify at-risk students.”

Dr. Brantley is especially excited about the 2020-2021 class’s achievement because those students were freshmen his first year as superintendent.

Neshoba Central High School Principal Jason Gentry was very excited and proud of the “historic progress” the school has made in regards to the improvement in its graduation rate.

“We took a dip last year and made it a school goal to show significant improvement in this area,” he said. “This improvement is a result of a great deal of hard work by our staff to ensure that our students stay on track to graduate with the cohort with which they entered the ninth grade.”

Gentry said counselors and administrators continuously have conversations with students regarding their academic progress and present various options that enhance their opportunity to stay on track towards graduation.

“By us staying involved in each student's progress individually and thinking ‘outside the box,’ it allows us to know where each student currently stands academically and the most effective way to get them to achieve the ultimate goal, which is graduating with a high school diploma,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Mississippi Department of Education recognized Neshoba Central as “one of the state’s top districts.”

Brantley was invited to talk about this district’s success during a Zoom meeting with other superintendents across the state.

“I want to commend our staff on the hard work they did that led to us being recognized as a district which does well for our students,” he said.

 

PREPS presents growth awards

PREPS presented the Neshoba County School District several growth awards for the 2020-2021 school year.

The growth awards were based on the scale scores from 2019 and 2021.

The awards included:

Fifth Grade ELA Growth Award, elementary school.

Fifth Grade Math Growth Award, elementary school. 

Sixth Grade Math Growth Award, middle school. 

Seventh Grade Math Growth Award, middle school.

Eighth Grade ELA Growth Award, middle school. 

Eighth Grade Math Growth Award, middle school. 

ACT Growth Award, high school. 

Algebra 1 Growth Award, high school. 

Gentry said improvement in growth in regards to the ACT and Algebra I scores and the recognition of NCHS by PREPS reiterates the hard work and dedication the staff has put forward to push the school to be as successful as it possibly can be.

“While we are proud of this honor and recognition, we know that this is a continuous journey in regards to our potential to be one of the best high schools in the state,” he said. “Moving forward, we will continue to set the highest of expectations for our students to achieve the levels of success necessary for each of them to be a productive person in our community.”

Story by Debbie Burt Myers