By Rupert Howell
Third graders in the South Panola District are hitting their mark  in reading and the high school’s graduation rate has made significant  improvements in the past three years Superintendent Tim Wilder reported to his board of trustees during Tuesday night’s monthly meeting.
Three hundred eighteen of 336 third graders passed reading requirements with the remainder having three opportunities to retake the test. Passing the statewide test is one requirement of passing to the next grade.
Batesville Intermediate third grade had 255 pass with 17 needing to retake the test and Pope School had 63 pass with one needing to retake the test.
The  passing percentage was up approximately one percent at 94.6 compared to 93.5 last year, the first year the mandated test was taken. South Panola ranked in the top 10 highest last year according to Wilder who said he has not been informed of this year’s rankings.
“We are pleased with it. Very pleased,” Wilder said of the district’s third graders’ reading achievement.
Wilder also said he was, “Very pleased,” with the high school’s graduation rate improvement.
“It doesn’t compute well with the state average, but you can see improvement. We are progressing and we’re pleased with that,” Wilder said.
In 2013-2014, South Panola High School’s graduation rate was 65.3%. In 2014-2015, South Panola High School’s graduation rate was 76.8%, an 11.5% increase according to figures provided to the board.
Wilder said currently junior students needing to pass required testing to graduate early or who are behind and are trying to catch up numbered 32. That number is down to 13.
Seniors currently needing to pass required testing originally numbered 32 and that number is down to nine.
Board President Sandra Darby expressed her excitement about the remediation program which began after Wilder became superintendent stating, “We got on remediation and got that  number down to single digits.”