As part of its mandate to release an annual report card for school systems across the state, the Alabama Department of Education (ADE) released letter grades for each school Friday.

Though the full report, which will provide a breakdown of how each district’s letter grades were determined, won’t be available until Monday, preliminary data shows that Selma City Schools is seeing an improvement over last year’s scores.

“Although this report is a snapshot, it does contain vital data points,” said Dr. Avis Williams, Superintendent of Selma City Schools. “We are moving in the right direction.”

Across the board, all schools in the Selma City School district improved over last year’s numbers, at least marginally. Edgewood Elementary saw its overall score drop by three points while Selma High School’s dropped by two, though both schools saw modest gains in other areas.

Overall, the school district notched up a grade for the 2017-2018, earning a C. The school system improved by 8.57 points in Academic Achievement, 25.15 points in Academic Growth to earn a score of 83, 25.2 points in Graduation Rate to earn an 84 and 5.5 points in College and Career Readiness.

The highest scoring school in the Selma school system was Meadowview Elementary School, which scored a B overall. The school improved in both Academic Achievement and Growth by 29 and 41 points, respectively.

All three schools that received an F last year – Cedar Park Elementary, Sophia P. Kingston Elementary and R.B. Hudson Middle School – saw their scores improve by a grade point, leaving no schools in Selma with a failing status.

R.B. Hudson, Sophia P. Kingston and Cedar Park all improved their Academic Growth scores by nearly 40 points.

“I attribute this to our hardworking teachers being intentional,” Williams said. “We have had a laser like focus on improving our district culture and, as a result, advancing student outcomes. That is the primary goal of our new strategic plan. Our goal is academic excellence.”

The scores for all Selma schools are as follows:

• Selma City Schools: 72, C (‘17-’18)/ 68, D (‘16-’17)

• Cedar Park Elementary: 69, D (‘17-’18)/ 57, F (‘16-’17)

• Clark Elementary: 70, C (‘17-’18)/ 64, D (‘16-’17)

• Sophia P. Kingston Elementary: 73, C (‘17-’18)/ 56, F (‘16-’17)

• School of Discovery: 70, C (‘17-’18)/ 61, D (‘16-’17)

• Edgewood Elementary: 64, D (‘17-’18)/ 67, D (‘16-’17)

• Knox Elementary: 67, D (‘17-’18)/ 66, D (‘16-’17)           

•Meadowview Elementary: 83, B (‘17-’18)/ 76, C (‘16-’17)

• Payne Elementary: 77, C (‘17-’18)/ 67, D (‘16-’17)

• Selma High School: 62, D (‘17-’18)/ 64, D (‘16-’17)

• R.B. Hudson Middle School: 62, D (‘17-’18)/ 54, F (‘16-’17)

“We still have work to do,” Williams said. “I am optimistic that we have the right leaders in place to ensure that Selma City Schools will make our community proud.”

Though Dallas County Schools Superintendent Hattie Shelton didn’t have a school-by-school breakdown available, the school district did inch up from a 70 to a 73, earning a letter grade of C.

“We’re improving and I’m really happy that we did,” Shelton said. “I wish we had gotten a B, but we’re still working on it.”