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Andalusia Junior High School has raised its Alabama State Report 11 points from last year’s score.

On the 2017-2018 report card, AJHS received a 76, but on the 2018-2019 report card, they managed to bump it up to an 87.

“Our teachers have done a great job of finding resources and going to different professional development conferences,” AJHS principal Ray Wilson said. “They are making sure that they are instructing curriculum in the right way and instructing the right things on the test.”

AJHS will participate in a new standardized testing this year, which Wilson said his teachers are prepared for.

“Now we are having to change our resources again,” Wilson said. “We have already started some of that and Jennifer Earnest at the central office has done a great job getting us resources for this new test. Our teachers do a great job presenting the material to our students in a way that they can understand it. So, I don’t have any doubts that our students will score just as well on this test as they did the Scantron.”

Another aspect of the Alabama State Report Card is chronic absenteeism, which Wilson said he has worked hard on reducing at the junior high.

“I have kind of taken that as one of my goals,” Wilson said. “I mean, attendance at every school is an issue, but by eliminating some of those chronic absences, we can improve our score for next year.”

Last year, Victoria Anderson was the principal at AJHS and Wilson commends her on her work at the junior high.

“The growth and everything has really been on her,” Wilson said. “She did a tremendous job of making sure the teachers were prepared. I am just proud of the staff, because you see the hard work that they do. I am proud of the students and the improvements that they made.”