Official accountability performance ratings have been released by the Mississippi Department of Education showing once again that Itawamba County School District has earned a performance level of "High Performing". This makes back-to-back years that the District has attained this performance level much to the delight of school and district administrators, teachers and students. This puts the ICSD in the top 20% of school districts in the entire State of Mississippi.

Teresa McNeece, Superintendent of Education, was particularly pleased since her tenure as the county's education leader will come to an end on Dec. 31 due to her retirement. "I've had some people speculate that last year's High Performing status may have been a lucky one time accomplishment. That just made everyone that much more determined to show that we are deserving of this high honor."

QDI (Quality Distribution Index) scores, which are used to determine the performance level for each school and the District, have risen steadily in the three years since the beginning use of this performance system. ICSD's QDI this year was 170 compared to167 last year and 157 the prior year. According to McNeece, the steady upward climb has been due to the teachers, students, parents and administrators buying into the belief that all children can learn and each child must grow every year no matter where they start.

Four schools earned the High Performing designation this year compared to only two schools last year. Mantachie, Itawamba Attendance Center, Fairview and Itawamba High School earned the High Performing label this year. Dorsey and Tremont were labeled Successful for the second year in a row.  Tremont would have been High Performing had their graduation rate not been below the cut line, and IAHS had the QDI to be a Star school but also missed the cut line on their graduation rate. McNeece said, "These schools worked really hard to achieve the QDI scores, but the cut lines kept them out of the next higher designation."