Dale superintendent talks state report card

The Dale County Schools received a grade of B overall on the Alabama State Report Card released to the public Feb. 1.

“Dale County Schools scored well in comparison to school systems across the state,” said Dale County Schools Superintendent Ben Baker said. “But there is always room for improvement.”

The Alabama Department of Education released the first school report cards in nearly two decades, assigning letter grades to school systems as a whole and to individual schools. The report cards are the result of a 2012 state law that requires A through F grades for schools and school systems.

Twelve of the state’s 137 school systems receive an A. Fifty-two received a B and 54 received a C. The remaining 19 got a D. No school systems received an F.

The recently released report gave Dale County Schools a grade of B with 84 points. “That places the Dale County Schools report card in the top 20 percent of the 137 school districts in Alabama,” Baker said.

GW Long High School scored an A with 93 points, Ariton School scored a B with 88 points, GW Long Elementary School scored a B with 88 points, Midland City Elementary School scored a B with 81 points, Newton School scored a B with 83 points, South Dale Middle School scored a C with 75 points and Dale County High School scored a C with 74 points.

Baker said he is very pleased with the “learning gains” section of the report card. “This portion of the district grade shows that 100 percent of the students tested improved their math score over time,” he said. “The reading portion of the test shows that 93 percent of the students improved in reading.

“GW Long High School’s score is in the top 6 percent of the 1,247 schools in Alabama,” Baker said. “Ariton School and GW Long Elementary School scored in the top 12 percent of the 1,247 schools in the state with the 88 score.”

Baker noted that more than half of the schools that outscored the schools in the Skipperville and Ariton communities were “elite selective Magnet Schools.

“The state report card has been a controversial issue recently in educational and political circles due to many factors,” Baker said. “The constant change in standards, curriculum and the actual test used for accountability.

“In my career in education, students have taken tests including the SAT, ARMT, ACT Aspire, and Performance Series by Scantron,” Baker said. “Teachers and school leaders struggle with preparing students for these high stakes tests because many are not aligned to the state standards the teachers are required to teach.