NATCHEZ — Home to one of six schools in the state to receive an F, the Mississippi Department of Education this week gave the Natchez-Adams School District as a whole a D grade.

In the delayed 2015 Accountability Report for the 2014-15 school year released Thursday, the NASD ranks in the bottom 15 percent of the state.

The NASD also had a D grade for the 2013-14 school year.

For the 2014-15 school year, Morgantown Arts Academy received an F grade.The 2014-15 school year was the first year the school district operated under more difficult accountability rankings, which put more emphasis on lower-performing students and their growth than on individual students.

Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher said the data shows some of the schools had success in implementing the Common Core standards, while others had challenges.

“​As a district, we know that there are some indicators that we are moving in the right direction,” Butcher said. “Having a consistent focus, creating opportunities for teachers to collaborate around the work in the classrooms and student work and making data-driven decisions impact student achievement positively.”

Butcher, who was not superintendent for the 2014-15 year, said there were challenges with the emphasis on greater accountability.

“The Common Core state standards, which we no longer ascribe to by state mandate, required students to work a depth of rigor to which they were unaccustomed,” Butcher said. “So, we are continuing to work on building some foundational knowledge that was not required by Mississippi Curriculum Frameworks.”

Additionally, Butcher said the 2014-15 school year was the first year students had to complete their tests online, and there were glitches in the software.

“However, we are working under a ‘no excuses’ process,” Butcher said. “We are acknowledging our challenges and working to implement strategies to address and overcome those challenges.”

Board of Trustees President Amos James said trustees had not reviewed the scores.

Joseph L. Frazier Elementary School was the only one in the district to show any gains, moving from a D to a C grade. McLaurin Elementary and Susie B. West Elementary schools both retained C grades. McLaurin received its C through a special waiver; without the waiver the school earned a D.

The waiver allows a school to retain the letter grade it received in the 2013-14 school year if the 2014-15 grade is lower because of assessment results. Starting with the 2015-16 school year, no waiver will be in effect.

Robert Lewis Magnet School retains the best grade in the district with a B. The school actually received a D on the most recent grading scale but was able to maintain its B due to the waiver.

Morgantown College Prep and Morgantown Leadership academies were not officially graded. The two schools without waivers received D grades. Officials with MDE could not be reached to explain why the two Morgantown academies did not receive official grades.

Natchez Early College Academy was not graded. Schools in their first year of operation were not graded.

Natchez Freshman Academy and Natchez High School both received Ds.

Butcher said the district would focus on improving accountability standards at the middle schools in the coming year, though lessons are to be learned district-wide from West and Frazier, which achieved higher scores.

The district has invested in teacher development, refining curriculum and will be asking administrators to spend more time in the classroom helping teachers, Butcher said.

“We are going to regularly observe, analyze and discuss what students are supposed to learn, determine how they are learning and gauge how well they are learning using very specific indicators of success,” Butcher said. “The district will begin school with the lowest number of teacher vacancies in several years, which will equate to more students starting the year with highly qualified teachers to provide the quality instruction they need.

“We are expecting to see growth across the district with things that we are working to have in place starting in August.”

Meanwhile, nearby Amite County upgraded from a D to a C. Franklin County received a C grade, but due to a waiver, was allowed to retain its B. Jefferson County received a D. Wilkinson County scored a D, but due to waiver, retained a C.

Around the state, grades for 2014-15 include 19 A districts, 43 B districts, 54 C districts, 30 D districts and no F districts. More districts moved from a D to a C label when compared to the 2013-14 official district letter grades. The number of A and B districts remained unchanged from the previous school year.

Accountability labels are typically reported in the fall following the end of a school year; however, results were delayed nearly one year because of data quality errors with Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Dynamic Learning Maps, the alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

The accountability system factors in student proficiency, a standards-based growth model and the four-year graduation rate, if the school has a 12th grade. The system is designed to present a more transparent picture of how well schools are serving students at all levels.

The accountability system also places a greater emphasis on student academic growth, particularly the lowest performing 25 percent of students. Students meet growth standards if their scores improve from one proficiency level to the next, or move sufficiently within the lower proficiency levels.

To view the complete 2014-15 accountability results for schools and districts, reports.mde.k12.ms.us/report/report2015.aspx