SUSSEX -- Sussex Central High School had struggled to become fully accredited since the Standards of Learning were implemented about a decade ago.

Principal Arthur L. Jarrett Jr. took over last year and made changes that tipped the scale enough for the 493-student school to win state accreditation.

The school has been preparing to repeat the success this month, when students take SOL tests.

"We're there, but it's an ongoing process," assistant principal Sarah Mason said. "You get there this year, but you still have to get there next year."

Seniors Regginald Hollemon and Aubrey Raiford got a perfect score on a couple of the SOL tests last year and, in June, they will be among the first senior class graduating from the school since it became fully accredited. As they move on to college in the fall, that fact makes them proud, they said.

"It looks better 'cause guys won't think that we're just a bunch of dummies down here," Raiford said.

"A bunch of dummies in the middle of nowhere," Hollemon added.

Raiford will attend Radford University but has not decided on a major. Hollemon will attend Virginia Commonwealth University to pursue a degree in electrical engineering.

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Sussex has about 1,300 students in five schools. Only Jefferson Elementary School and Sussex Central High are fully accredited. Two schools missed full accreditation by two to four points last year.

Superintendent Charles H. Harris III said the district has been making strides in the SOL tests.

"There were no accredited schools in this division four years ago," he said.

Schools have been revising curriculum guides regularly, monitoring instruction, assessing students more regularly, and providing targeted remedial education.

"The challenge has been to attract and retain highly qualified teachers and administrators with high expectations of everyone," he said.

Perseverance by teachers and students and getting a new principal finally paid off last year, Mason said.

Jarrett motivated staff and students, Mason said. "He brings in a new way of thinking, thinking outside of the box."

Jarrett said he came with a vision.

"I had a specific purpose with a specific goal to reach our objectives, and the teachers bought into the vision, the students bought into the vision, and everybody stepped up to the plate and delivered," he said.

The school began offering in-school and after-school tutoring for struggling students, he said. Retired teachers were brought in to help with math, science and history. Non-core subject teachers also were involved in SOL tasks.

Jarrett also tutors students in math after school. "I think we had a lot of good efforts, a lot of dedicated people here," he said. "But things were a tad bit fragmented. What was needed was an instructional leader . . . to bring the pieces together."

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Gwatanda Greene, a co-chair of the special-education department and an 11th-grade teacher, said the school started doing fourand nine-week assessments last year.

"Everything we do now is data-driven," she said. "Before, we did benchmark tests every nine weeks. All of us were not involved in the data process as we are now. Now it's a collaboration with teachers, administrators and guidance. Everybody works in a team now."

The school became fully accredited by the state but missed the federal No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmark because the school did not test 95 percent of students in the special-education subgroup. A couple of students missed school on testing day, Jarrett said.

The school has raised the goal for SOL scores from a 70 percent passing rate last year to 80 percent this year, he said.

"Our aim is to have both," Jarrett said, "full accreditation as well as making AYP this year."

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.