Surveys can be dime-a-dozen; in education, they're often as common as daily test scores.

But a new survey released this week shows that at least one northeast Alabama public school system — Calhoun County Schools — is among the leaders when it comes to the availability of online data.

The first-year Alabama School Community Information Network ranked the Calhoun County system in a four-way tie for ninth place among Alabama's 132 systems. Calhoun County's score of 20 tied it with the systems of Baldwin and Morgan counties and the Huntsville city system.

Calhoun County Schools received high marks for having a majority of its pertinent information on the system Web site. The surveyors deducted points because items such as board minutes and state report card results weren't on the site.

Still, it's good to see Calhoun County Schools listed high in an educational ranking.

But, alas, there's always another side. None of the region's other systems fared well. Oxford was mired in the middle. The Randolph, Talladega and Cherokee systems were in the bottom half. And the surveyors placed the Anniston, Clay and Jacksonville systems close to the bottom.

So kudos to Calhoun County Schools. As for the others, there's work to be done.