On Monday, good news came from the state Department of Education: 83.3 percent of Alabama’s schools have met all 100 performance goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That’s up 1 percent from the 82.2 in 2007-08.

State Superintendent Joe Morton, who visited the Selma City Schools on Monday night, attributed the reading initiative and Pre-K programs for the increase.

The AYP status of schools and a school system is based on achievement on assessments of the state’s academic content standards, participation rates on these assessments, and meeting the Additional Academic indicators based on attendance rates for elementary and middle schools and graduation rates in high school.

Selma City Schools — every school — met the performance goals. That’s quite an accomplishment. Many of the children from this school system are considered at-risk for failure or dropping out. Many of the children from this school system live below the poverty level. This goes to show that with community and parental involvement, children can enjoy great success in education.

Also noted is the inability of Dallas County High School to achieve the performance standard set by No Child Left Behind. Key here are the reading scores. Other Dallas County schools not making the grade: Keith Middle-High School, Southside High School and Brantley Elementary School.

While this turn of events is disappointing to parents, it is certain the leadership of the Dallas County School System will evaluate the results and put their students and staff on track for success in the upcoming academic year.