Administrators for Salem City Schools and Franklin County Schools had reason to stand with pride this week before both their students and their peers at other schools in the commonwealth.

The two school systems were among 12 districts in Virginia to be named academic outperformers by Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services.

School systems receive the designation when their number of students proficient or above on state reading and math tests is higher than those of other districts in Virginia with similar percentages of students in poverty.

"Generally, the greater the concentration of economically disadvantaged students who are served," the Web site for the study explains, "the lower student proficiency levels are."

Standard & Poor's studied 130 school districts in Virginia.

Salem, which according to Standard & Poor's has 3,944 students, and Franklin County, with 7,347, were among 10 of those 12 school districts that have outperformed for three consecutive years.

The other outperforming districts are Charlotte County, Halifax County, Mecklenburg County, Norfolk, Northampton County, Patrick County, Poquoson, Rockingham County, Scott County and West Point.

"What they're saying to us," explained Salem school Superintendent Wayne Tripp, "is that you're doing better than we expected you to do."

Even if you already feel positive about your work, said Jackie Giorgi, Franklin County's director of curriculum and instruction for grades six to 12, receiving official recognition is always sweet.

"We always knew we were doing a good job, but this puts meat behind it," she said.

The secret of the schools' success?

"We work really hard as a division to make sure we deal with students on an individual basis," she said. "We have to look at each child as an individual and look at where they are and move from there."

Franklin County High School, in particular, earned a nod from Standard & Poor's for being one of 69 schools in Virginia that have significantly narrowed the proficiency gap between higher- and lower-performing students on state reading and math tests.

Along with Franklin County High, Liberty High School in Bedford County and Magna Vista High School in Henry County received recognition for closing the achievement gap between white and black students. Galax High and Magna Vista received recognition for closing the gap between low-income students and the rest of the student body.