A high school in Austin that was on the verge of closing last year has made a big turn-around. 

Reagan High School is now an academically acceptable campus.  It's a result of a lot of hard work and dedication from teachers, students and administration. 

The state released the 2010 campus accountability ratings Friday. 

"They don't have academically unacceptable running through their heads anymore, you know, cause that's a let down," said recent graduate Justin Coleman.

Coleman said teachers did a lot to help students achieve the academically acceptable rating.

"A lot of the teachers, they actually stayed," Coleman said.  "They stayed a long time after school just to help a lot of the students."

Reagan teachers said they are seeing the students working harder.

"They see the rewards and they see that the community is responding positively and that makes them feel better," teacher Kate Miranda said.

The ratings boost at Reagan High comes after four straight years of academically unacceptable status. 

Principal Anabel Garza said the school was in a challenging, do-or-die situation.

"I think we've aged about five years in the past year," Garza said.

Garza said students have posted steady academic improvements over the past two years.  She said their goals are higher than just raising TAKS test scores.

"I think that this is just the beginning," Garza said.  "I think that the kids are really focused now and academically this is a launch pad for what's to come in the future for this whole community."

Garza said Reagan achieved the higher status even without adding-in the state's new way of measuring progress, which predicts whether a student is likely to pass the TAKS at a future high-stakes grade level.