Annual test scores are in for both Harlan County and Harlan Independent school systems, and local educators are celebrating their gains while preparing to buckle down and make up lost ground.

The Harlan Independent Schools made improvements in their academic index at the district, elementary and high school levels, losing a few points in the middle school grades but still meeting all state goals for the two-year cycle. Their accountability index, taking into account test scores, dropout rates and retention rates, is 81.4, up four points from 2003.

As a result of this year's Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) scores, the Harlan Independent School District has been classified as an "exemplary growth district" by the state.

"We're very pleased with our scores," said Dr. James Greene, supervisor of instruction for the city schools. "Overall, we really made progress in all areas."

He said that after-school help for students, particularly in math, helped the district meet its goals. Now the focus will be on middle school grades to see why scores slipped, he said.

"I'm pleased with the results and the efforts of our students and our staff," said Harlan Independent Schools Superintendent David Johnson.

Harlan County schools improved slightly at the district level to meet their state-set goal and made up more ground than was lost on all grade levels in the district. The district accountability score for 2004 was 67.4, up a little over three points from last year.

Wallins Elementary School made improvements in every one of seven subject areas for the fourth and fifth grades, bringing their academic index to 88.8, the highest of all schools in both districts.

Black Mountain seventh- and eighth-graders jumped 15 points, making them the highest-scoring middle-school group in the county.

Three county schools Cumberland Elementary, Rosspoint Elementary and Cawood Elementary showed individual losses in either fourth and fifth grades or seventh and eighth grades.

Four schools also did not meet their two-year goal set by the state: Cumberland Elementary School, Evarts High School, Hall Elementary School and James A. Cawood High School. These schools are classified as "progressing," because scores did not fall so far that the state would send in assistance.

Under No Child Left Behind, Hall Elementary School and Evarts High School have been classified as in need of improvement this year already, based on early numbers.

The other schools that had test scores slide down this year did well enough on 2003 tests to have some time before they are classified as in need of improvement. It takes two years in a row of not meeting testing goals before a school is classified and required to offer school choice.

Gary Hackler, director of curriculum for the county schools, said the school system will now start breaking down the hundreds of pages of data sent from the state to see what needs to be done.

"Overall, I'm pleased with our district scores," he said. "Our math is still a concern."

There was some very bad news for one county elementary school: At Rosspoint, students in the fourth and fifth grades scored more than 10 points lower on the academic index than they did last year.

"They are not happy with this score," said Title I director Gayle Jurgens. "It's unusual for them."

Even with the significant drop in test scores Rosspoint Elementary School is not in danger of state or federal consequences because previous test scores balanced out the poor showing.

Significant drops in elementary social studies at county schools surprised school officials.

Rosspoint Elementary School went down by almost 25 points in social studies, and Cumberland Elementary dropped by 21 points.

"We're thinking,