State Superintendent Tony Evers is impressed with some innovative academic programs in the Merrill School District.

He visited the high school and Washington Elementary Wednesday afternoon.

Washington Elementary uses Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, which helps students improve learning and behavior.

Wednesday, students celebrated their progress with the program during a special responsibility assembly, that Evers attended.

"It's a statewide program where we actually work at teaching the students good behavior and not just assuming it's going to happen," Evers said. "It's my understanding this elementary school has done a great job."

Evers is also impressed with the high school's partnership with NorthCentral Technical College.

He says it's critical for all schools to keep students engaged while putting them on the right path to a career. Getting high school and college credits simultaneously is the way to do it, Evers said.

Evers says the state is set to release its first accountability system for schools.

"It's kind of a report card for the lack of a better term that schools will be able to be measured, not in a pass fail way that the federal government did, but a more comprehensive way where there's multiple measures," Evers said.

School districts will look at an index to see how they compare to other districts and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

A group is also looking at how to implement new standards in math, language arts and English.