(ABC 6 News) — In Iowa, the state’s Department of Education released its performance report this week, and several schools in the ABC 6 area have dropped in the rankings.

Three Charles City schools and one Mason City school are now listed as “priority” rankings.

Charles City High School was one of the three schools in the district ranked as a priority by the Iowa Department of Education because of factors like chronic absenteeism and below state average proficiency scores.

Meanwhile, nearly 51% of students at Mason City High School were designated as chronically absent last year. The state average is 21.63%.

Both Charles City High School and Mason City High School saw proficiency scores in science, math, and English language arts well below the state average.

The Charles City Community School District’s superintendent attributes the change in rating to a change in the way the Department of Education measured performance this year because certain subgroups of students did not reach performance goals. However, Superintendent Brian Burnight says they will be working hard to get their rating back up next year.

“We had a few different subgroups that were labeled as targeted, and so we’re owning that. We want to help those kids to close that achievement gap, and that’s a priority for us here in Charles City,” said Dr. Burnight.

Other Charles City Community Schools listed as a priority ranking were Washington and Lincoln Elementary Schools.

Mason City Community School District did not respond to ABC 6 News’ request for comment on Friday.