NATCHEZ – Natchez students scored &uot;pretty decent&uot; during their first Mississippi Curriculum Test but show areas for improvement, Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis said Tuesday.

&uot;I wouldn’t say I’m totally pleased, but I’m not disappointed either,&uot; Davis said.

Natchez-Adams School District students in second- to eighth-grade took the test in May 2001 as part of a statewide effort to assess student knowledge of state curriculum.

Across the state, 250,000 students took the math, language and reading components of the test.

Students were then classified as scoring on a minimal, basic, proficient or advanced level.

Local students scored below the state proficient level in most areas except in second-grade language.

On that level, 39.9 percent of district’s 406 tested second-graders were classified as proficient. Only 35.5 percent of the second-graders scored proficient on the state level.

Local second-graders also scored 59.9 percent proficient in reading while the state proficient figure was 59.0 percent.

But students struggled state and districtwide in seventh-grade math.

In the Natchez-Adams School District, 65.1 percent of 338 seventh-graders scored on the minimal level.

And 43 percent of the seventh-graders scored on the minimal level for the state.

Students will take the test again in May. Eventually districts will be required to show improvements for each child based on the test results.

The district has worked all year to improve and is developing individual improvement plans for many students, Davis said.

&uot;We’re going to work with those (students) to try to push them in areas of growth,&uot; Davis said.

These types of improvements will not happen overnight but take the combined effort of school administration, teachers and parents.

&uot;Now you’re really getting down to where the rubber meets the road in the classroom,&uot; Davis said. &uot;We’ve got to focus every amount of our energy on every student. We can’t leave any child behind.&uot;