That’s how Keith High School Principal Grady Broadnax explains his school’s performance on the Alabama High School Graduation Examination.

The State of Alabama recently released report cards for spring 2002 on the Alabama Graduation Exam and Stanford Achievement Test, comparing schools within the state.

Among Dallas County System Schools, Keith High School showed the highest passing rate on the graduation exam, with Dallas County High School finishing a close second and Southside finishing third.

Ninety-five percent of all seniors passed the graduation exam at Keith; 90 percent of seniors passed the exam at Dallas County High; and 61 percent passed the exam at Southside.

All schools in the Dallas County School System showed local revenues per student totaling $452.40.

Other schools showed higher amounts of local funding per student, but even lower passing rates on the graduation exam.

Dallas County School System Assistant Superintendent Don Willingham said that he was pleased with the latest results. He said the figures show the school system being academically in the clear, even though schools registered higher results on the graduation exam last year.

Willingham noted that the school system ranked 125 out of 128 total school systems in the state in local funding per student.

Willingham said that having fewer students per teacher and being in a rural community contributed to Keith High’s latest performance.

He said he remains optimist about the outlook at Southside.

Martin Middle School posted the highest SAT scores among Dallas County Schools, with students being ranked in the 56 percentile. Willingham said that compares favorably with other schools in the United States.

Tipton Elementary-Middle School posted the lowest score, with students in the 33rd percentild. Keith Middle School and Brantley Elementary were next lowest, with students at both schools being ranked in the 35 percentile.

Willingham explained that the lower SAT scores could have been due to the fact that students were not required to perform well on the test for the school system to be declared academically clear this year.