The Vicksburg Warren School District was certainly disappointed in the recent district-wide accountability score of a “D” and the score of the district’s schools.

Superintendent Chad Shealy and the board of trustees have a plan to drastically improve that rating and unveiled their annual instructional plan during their meeting Thursday.

The board approves instructional plans each year, but this year the plans are targeted at seeing specific growth for individual students instead of just a percentage of growth.

“We addressed individual children instead of estimates based on proficiency in percentages,” Shealy said. “In the past, ours had been based on past performance. If we had increased by five percent we were going to set it at six or seven this year. We threw all that out the window and went to every individual child to get the achievement blocks.”

As part of the instructional plans, Shealy and the principals identified target accountability scores for the district as a whole and each of the 12 schools that will receive scores next year.

The district target score for 2018 is a 631, a 129-point increase from this year when they received a 502. Under the current cut scores, a 631 would earn VWSD a B.

Shealy also worked with the principals at each school to develop plans and a target 2018 score based on seeing growth in students who are on the bubble.

The plan is an ambitious one to improve the accountability score, but one that is well thought out and attainable.

It won’t be an easy task, but we commend Shealy, school administrators and the board of trustees for developing a plan that focuses more on the students who need the most help.