The Tennessee Department of Education last week released its annual Report Card data on more than 130 school systems and more than 1,700 schools in Tennessee.

Overall, the Sweetwater City School System did well.

That was no surprise to Sweetwater City Director of Schools Dr. Melanie Miller, as the state had reported back in the summer Sweetwater's school system was one of only 21 school systems in the state to earn "Exemplary" status as a top performing school system.

"We are trending upward as a system," Miller said.

The Report Cards come out each fall and include a myriad of data, including achievement scores and value-added scores, which are designed to show how much students grow academically in a year Those scores are based on a three-year average.

Much of this data is displayed in letter grades in hopes of making it easier for the public to understand.

Miller is happy to talk about the school system's success, but she says the system must focus on the school year at hand and can't live in past success for very long.

"We can't rest on that," Miller said of last year's test results.

The city schools director said a number of initiatives have been implemented in the city schools to help students, including stronger intervention programs, professional learning communities and more.

She credited the hard work by principals, teachers, students and all the city school staff for the solid gains academically.

While some parents and students might not be overjoyed with a grade of C on a regular report card, Miller said on the state's Report Card, it is meeting the national average, though the city system strives to beat that average.

With a free and reduced lunch rate approaching 80 percent in the city system, and both the county and city system' per pupil expenditures below the state and national averages, there is a lot to be proud of.

But there is always room for improvement as well. Miller and city school officials are not happy with the value-added D grade in reading and language arts as a system.

Miller said the intense focus on math in the school system probably caused reading and language arts scores to suffer.

Both local school systems will go into more details about the Report Cards at School Board meetings. You can access individual school scores and much more data online at www.tn.gov/education.