NATCHEZ &045;&045; Fourth- and eighth-grade students in the Natchez-Adams School District showed improvement on their benchmark retests.

All seven students who took Mississippi Curriculum retests in January at McLaurin Elementary School passed, while 19 of 22 students at Morgantown Elementary and 45 of 83 students at Robert Lewis Middle School passed.

The students who had previously failed to meet the benchmarks in the third and seventh grade in the categories of reading, language or math must pass the retest in order to move on to the next grade.

At McLaurin all seven retests were given in the reading category. At Morgantown, four students retook the math portion and all passed, seven retook the language portion and all passed, 17 retook the reading portion and 14 passed.

Morgantown Principal Fred Marsalis credits the improvement to five Title I tutors that work alongside the teachers in the classroom and the hard work of the students.

&uot;No doubt about it &045;&045; targeting the benchmarks helped,&uot; Marsalis said. &uot;And good concentration from the students as well as focused faculty.&uot;

Robert Lewis Principal Cynthia Smith said even with 55 failing grades, the majority of the retests were passing grades.

&uot;Those 55 (tests) not passing only represents 45 students,&uot; Smith said.

Smith said she was proud of nine students who went from a minimal score the first time to advanced or proficient in the retests.

Smith also credited some of the progress to extra efforts devoted to those retaking the test, but placed most of the credit with the students.

&uot;I feel the credit should be given to those students who passed and put forth the effort to be better,&uot; she said.

Of the 45 RLMS students who failed the benchmarks a second time 27 are also failing their regular class work and 11 are borderline, Smith said. For the reading benchmark 22 of 31 RLMS students passed, in language 11 of 12 passed and in math 32 of 77 passed. &uot;We are never going to be pleased with math,&uot; Smith said. &uot;But I think statewide seventh and eighth grade principals have the same problem.&uot;

Superintendent Anthony Morris attributed the improvements to curriculum specialists and tutoring programs. &uot;I’m happy to see that we are moving in the right direction,&uot; he said. &uot;We still have some improvements to make but it was good to see that we are headed in the right direction.&uot;

The students who did not pass the benchmarks this time and who have passing grades in their schoolwork will face review by an external board in the coming weeks, District Test Coordinator Charlotte Franklin said.

No student failed in all three subject areas, but 10 did fail in two.