“Successful” will be the word for Vicksburg Warren School District when 2012 test scores are released later this month, Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Swinford told a rollicking, raucous, cow-bell-ringing crowd of teachers and administrators meeting Thursday at the district’s annual convocation to jump-start the school year.

Swinford capped the celebration at the Vicksburg City Auditorium with the news that, based on this year’s test scores, which have not officially been released by the Mississippi Department of Education, the district has earned the Successful label.

“When I came to the VWSD we had the label of At Risk of Failing. We are no longer At Risk of Failing, we are a Successful district. We did it in just two years,” Swinford said to loud cheers. “Next year we are going to meet here one more time and celebrate it again.”

Since 2009, the state education department has ranked schools, based on a numerical score calculated from test results plus incremental improvement year-to-year, with seven descriptors: Star, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, At Risk of Failing and Failing.

This year the department will use the five common letter grades, A through F. VWSD’s composite score places it in the former Successful range and earns a C letter grade.

The theme for this year’s convocation was Don’t Stop Believing. Teachers and principals gathered school by school, decked out in green, red, yellow, orange and other matching T-shirts, waving signs, beating thundersticks, blasting air horns and yelling school spirit cheers.

“What a year this is going to be,” Swinford told them. “If we keep our energy levels up like this our kids are going to rock and our test scores are going to keep going up and up.”

The VWSD was rated At Risk of Failing in 2010, and moved up last year to Academic Watch. Swinford and other speakers encouraged the faculty to continue to aim for higher levels of student achievement and to be united within their schools and as a district.

“We succeed together and fail together as a team,” said Bryan Pratt, president of the VWSD Board of Trustees. “Some of our teammates might need support and encouragement. Speaking from the Board of Trustees, we all know that we are on a long journey, and we are so proud of each and every one of you.”

Keynote speaker Dr. James Aaron Bradford Cook, founder of JABC Educational Services Group and a minister, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and member of the Board of Trustees of Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in Port Gibson, among other achievements, reminded all of the important role of educators — everyone connected with the schools — in today’s society.

“For you to move up, for you to improve on this year, everybody needs to get engaged,” said Cook, naming bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers along with teachers and parents.

“You are doing a fantastic job, but don’t stop believing that there’s not more sky up there,” Cook said. “We can’t afford to lose a single child. Work together. Never accept mediocrity. Pull, drag, whatever it takes. Get it out of them.”

In 2010, the VWSD had four schools labeled At Risk of Failing, four Academic Watch, two Successful and two High Performing, Swinford said.

Though not all schools showed improvement, this year’s results will have no schools rated At Risk of Failing or Low Performing. Five will be Academic Watch, five Successful and two High Performing, she said.

The two schools that made the highest gains were Vicksburg Junior High School and Warren Central Intermediate, two schools that had been placed in At-Risk status by state Department of Education and were required to implement formal school improvement plans.

Official test results and school ratings will be released at the end of August, a state education department spokesman said last week.

“We’re just excited about their gains and look forward to the great things they’re going to do next year,” Pratt said.