Education Frankfort High earns state's highest rank Short Gap school one of 29 to receive honor By submission to the Cumberland Times-News Tuesday, November 16, 2004 10:01 AM EST SHORT GAP - Frankfort High School has been designated as one of the 29 West Virginia schools to receive the state's highest rank. One of only five high schools in the state to achieve the recognition, Frankfort was named a West Virginia Exemplary School by the State Department of Education on Friday. Frankfort Principal Jeff Marsh received word of the honor Monday from Mineral County Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth, and immediately congratulated the students and staff at the school for their accomplishments. Schools receive "exemplary" status based on achievement test results, attendance, dropout rate and writing exam scores. This year, the state required the school finish among the top 10 percent in both reading/language arts and math test scores, and achieve adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind guidelines. To be designated as exemplary, a school's attendance rate must be at or above 94 percent and a dropout rate at or less than 3.6 percent. Frankfort's attendance rate is 96.53 and the dropout rate is 2.6 percent. Also at Frankfort: * Fourteen of the 18 students in Mineral County who scored at the "distinguished" level in mathematics were students at Frankfort. * Seventy-nine percent of Frankfort students scored at "mastery" level or above in mathematics, which put Frankfort 15 percent above the state average and 12 percent above the county average. * Of the 47 students in Mineral County who scored at the "distinguished" level in English and reading, 27 were students at Frankfort. * Eighty-eight percent of Frankfort students scored at "mastery" level or above in English and reading, and ranked 11 percent above the state average and 5 percent above the county average. * Of the 41 students in Mineral County scoring at the "distinguished" level in science, 22 were students at Frankfort. * Eighty-nine percent of Frankfort students scored at the "mastery" level or above in science, and were 4 percent above the state average and 2 percent above the county average. Frankfort is the only school in the Eastern Panhandle to earn this honor. The other four exemplary high schools were Winfield High in Putnam County, Bridgeport High School in Harrison County, Tyler Consolidated in Tyler County, and Williamstown High in Wood County. Only two middle schools in the state reached the rank - Suncrest Middle School in Monongalia County and Jackson Junior High in Wood County.