NATCHEZ &045; Growth is a slow and steady thing, but every once in a while it takes a fairly significant jump, and the party begins.

But for the Natchez-Adams School District the initial news that three of their schools jumped an entire achievement level couldn’t be shared with the public yet. Then the hurricanes came and brought hundreds of new students.

The excitement is still there, they insist, just dulled slightly. But the good news remains in full force.

Based on state test scores, McLaurin Elementary, Morgantown Elementary and Natchez High School all moved from level 2 schools to level 3 schools.

The state ranks the academic performance of its schools with a 1 to 5 scale. Level 2 schools are considered &uot;under performing.&uot; Level 3 schools are &uot;successful.&uot;

The difference in those two words is a big one, McLaurin Principal Karen Tutor said.

&uot;It’s something we’ve been working on since I got here,&uot; she said. &uot;I told Dr. (Anthony) Morris it will take us three to five years to be here. We did it in two.&uot;

Morris, the superintendent, started his Natchez job three years ago and hired Tutor, Morgantown’s Fred Marsalis and Natchez High’s James Loftin at the same time.

McLaurin Elementary

Time on task, teaching on grade level and making the most of every educational moment are the basics that are helping students at McLaurin achieve, Tutor said.

Restructuring the day three years ago then keying in on the basics like cutting back on tardy students and absences laid the groundwork for the test score jumps last year’s scores show.

&uot;The key is we really see what we are doing making a difference,&uot; Tutor said.

Academically the focus is on reading.

&uot;Reading is the key,&uot; she said. &uot;If you teach them to read the rest will come.&uot;

Second-, fourth- and fifth-graders made some substantial leaps on their reading scores, she said. Only 25 of 130 second-graders scored below their grade level &045; meaning they had not mastered what was expected of them in the second-grade.

And being on grade level one year, means starting on level the next, and that’s how growth takes over, she said.

A goal last year, and again this year, is to key in on those students who aren’t where they should be, and bring them up. McLaurin has multiple intervention plans in place to move kids up to grade level.

Every child that scored below the target works through the school’s reading lab, and every child that participates in the Boys and Girls Club after school gets extra help.

Teachers also spend a lot of time looking at the previous year’s test scores for their classes, and for each individual student in their current class. By knowing what the weaknesses are, they know where to improve, Tutor said.

The Mississippi Curriculum Test coach book also helps the students recognize their weaknesses and learn the format of the test.

Morgantown Elementary

Afternoon tutoring, weekend tutoring, nighttime tutoring and classroom teaching did the trick at Morgantown, Marsalis said.

Like McLaurin, the teachers and staff at Morgantown studied all the previous test data and put it into practice. Weaknesses were targeted in individual tutoring sessions and studying became a community event with a series of visits to area neighborhoods. &uot;We fought the odds and we had a lot to overcome and we did it,&uot; Marsalis said. &uot;We knew we had some deficiencies in our math and needed to look at that specifically.&uot;

And the school’s fifth- and sixth-grade math scores went up &045; a major factor to the level 3 ranking, he said. Third- and fourth-grade held their own, and second-grade increased slightly.

The school also used the MCT coach book.

&uot;It was a combined effort,&uot; Marsalis said. &uot;I’m most of all proud of the children. So many people like to say what these children can’t do, we like to say what they can do.&uot;

Natchez High School

The kids at Natchez High weren’t unprepared for their state Subject Area Tests in past years, they just weren’t taking them seriously, Loftin said.

Previously the tests weren’t required for graduation, but now they are, and the scores are going up. &uot;The thing that has worked to increase those test results is the enthusiasm of those students,&uot; Loftin said. &uot;Now they understand.&uot;

And now that they have their attention, NHS is working to make sure its teachers are teaching the right things.

Teacher workshops, and teaching strategies are helping, he said. &uot;Much of the teaching strategies are now geared to make sure we write across the curriculum, in every class,&uot; Loftin said.

Teachers are also helping students with cues of understanding and test taking methods.

The goal for NHS is to have at least 90 percent of students pass each Subject Area Test on their first try. Students are allowed to take each test several times. They are tested in Algebra I, Biology I, U.S. History and English II.

The 90 percent goal was met in U.S. History last year, and biology was close.

What’s next

Three is good, but it’s no 5.

Principals don’t want their excitement over a level 3 ranking to overshadow the real goal of the superior ranking.

&uot;We can see better by being up a level what steps there are we need to take to continue our upward plight to be a level 5,&uot; Loftin said.

Changes implemented in the schools last year will continue this year, but the only way to keep improving is to keep cranking up the instruction.

&uot;It’s a matter of really focusing in on what we are doing,&uot; Tutor said. &uot;Now we really focus on taking our instruction to the next level &045; quality instruction 100 percent of the time.&uot;

But it’s only getting harder, she said. Moving from a level 3 to a level 4 is harder than the jump from 2 to 3.

&uot;I do expect things to flatten out first,&uot; she said. &uot;But we’ll keep doing the same things instructionally that we’ve been doing.&uot;

And Hurricane Katrina changed things too. All Natchez schools have increased class sizes, something that can negatively impact academic performance, Tutor said. Plus the interruption of the hurricanes and the emotional stress will be factors, she said. The district also restructured its schools, sending children to a school based on grade, not on location. All the principals have said they expect the long-term effects of the restructuring to be positive, but any kind of change can delay immediate progress.

West Primary and Frazier Primary do not receive state rankings.