School officials took an in-depth look at which Dothan City Schools are making the grade and which ones are missing the mark when it comes to test scores and graduation rates

It's a detailed dissection for each school in the Dothan City School system.

“What I hope is to help the school system achieve what it wants and it wants to make itself one of the premier school systems in the nation,” said Jim Williams of the Public Affairs and Research Council of Alabama.

“I think we're moving in the right direction,” said Dothan City Schools superintendent, Dr. Sam Nichols.

Montana and Kelly Springs test scores ranked number 1 and 2 in 2009 among Dothan’s 11 elementary schools.

Grandview elementary came in second to last after seeing a huge 38% drop.

Highlands elementary was at the bottom but did see an 8% improvement.

“They're strength is in the elementary schools. I think you saw the results the elementary results are very good,” said Williams.

“I was pleased with the results especially with the elementary level,” added Nichols

Middle schools now, Carver was far ahead of the pack this year but did see an 11% decrease in test scores.

Beverlye and Honeysuckle fell behind but are moving in the right direction.

“At the middle grades there begins to be an issue with math,” said Williams.

“Math, especially at the middle school level and it's got to be an area of focus for us,” commented Nichols.

At the high school level, Dothan high scored better on the graduation exam than Northview high.

Dothan high’s scores stayed the same from '08 to '09, but northview saw a 12% drop.

“We need to work extremely hard to make sure every child in this school system gets the kind of education they so richly deserve,” said Nichols.

Those were just some of the numbers calculated in the report.

A lot of factors went into the tabulations including demographics, spending, test scores, and graduation rates.