MEDIA CONTACT: Meghan Frick, GaDOE Communications Office,
(404) 463-4246, mfrick@doe.k12.ga.us
-Follow DOE on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
December 5, 2017 – The Georgia Department of
Education today announced that 61 schools have exited the Priority and Focus
Schools lists, due to recent
across-the-board CCRPI increases and Georgia’s rising
graduation rate.
As part of Georgia’s ESEA waiver, which granted flexibility from
some provisions of No Child Left Behind, the GaDOE was required to identify
Priority and Focus Schools. Priority Schools represent the lowest-performing 5%
of Title I schools based on achievement data, plus schools with a graduation
rate below 60% for two consecutive years. Focus Schools represent the
lowest-performing 10% of Title I schools based on achievement gap data. That
data examines the gap between a school’s lowest performing 25% of students and
the state average, and the progress those students are making.
“We continue to see that underperforming schools can improve and
move the needle for their students, even when they face difficult odds,”
Superintendent Woods said. “And we’ve seen once again that intensive,
intentional partnerships between schools, districts, communities and our
Department can equip schools with the resources they need to improve student
achievement. These schools worked directly with our DOE staff and with Georgia
RESAs, and their leaders and teachers deserve immense credit for the progress
they’ve made. We view school improvement as a primary responsibility of our
entire agency – not just the school improvement division – and with that focus
guiding us, I’m confident we’ll continue to see schools making gains.”
The
following schools no longer meet the definition of a Priority or Focus school
and have made the required improvements to meet the exit criteria:
System
Name
|
School
Name
|
Exit List
|
Appling County
|
Appling County Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Centennial Academy
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Continental Colony Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Dunbar Elementary School
|
Priority
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Humphries Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Miles Intermediate School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Slater Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Therrell High School
|
Priority
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Towns Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Atlanta Public Schools
|
Tuskegee Airman Global Academy
|
Priority
|
Baldwin County
|
Creekside Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Baldwin County
|
Midway Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Bibb County
|
Lane Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Bibb County
|
Williams Elementary School
|
Priority
|
Bulloch County
|
Langston Chapel Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Bulloch County
|
Mattie Lively Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Chatham County
|
Butler Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Chatham County
|
Thunderbolt Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Chatham County
|
West Chatham Middle School
|
Focus
|
Clarke County
|
Gaines Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Clarke County
|
Howard B. Stroud Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Clarke County
|
Whit Davis Road Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Clayton County
|
Edmonds Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Clayton County
|
Forest Park High School
|
Priority
|
Cobb County
|
Clarkdale Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Coweta County
|
Ruth Hill Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Coweta County
|
Western Elementary School
|
Focus
|
DeKalb County
|
Barack H. Obama Elementary Magnet School of Technology
|
Focus
|
DeKalb County
|
Canby Lane Elementary School
|
Focus
|
DeKalb County
|
Clarkston High School
|
Priority
|
DeKalb County
|
Columbia High School
|
Priority
|
DeKalb County
|
Cross Keys High School
|
Priority
|
DeKalb County
|
Freedom Middle School
|
Focus
|
DeKalb County
|
Mary McLeod Bethune Middle School
|
Focus
|
DeKalb County
|
Smoke Rise Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Dodge County
|
Dodge County High School
|
Focus
|
Dougherty County
|
Monroe High School
|
Priority
|
Dublin City
|
Dublin Middle School
|
Focus
|
Dublin City
|
Susie Dasher Elementary
|
Focus
|
Fulton County
|
Banneker High School
|
Priority
|
Fulton County
|
Bethune Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Fulton County
|
Creekside High School
|
Priority
|
Fulton County
|
Hamilton E. Holmes Elementary
|
Focus
|
Fulton County
|
Hapeville Charter Career Academy
|
Priority
|
Fulton County
|
Hapeville Charter Middle School
|
Focus
|
Fulton County
|
Lee Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Fulton County
|
Tri-Cities High School
|
Priority
|
Gordon County
|
Swain Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Houston County
|
Huntington Middle School
|
Focus
|
Houston County
|
Pearl Stephens Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Jefferson County
|
Carver Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Jenkins County
|
Jenkins County Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Long County
|
Long County Middle School
|
Focus
|
Peach County
|
Fort Valley Middle School
|
Focus
|
Peach County
|
Peach County High School
|
Priority
|
Polk County
|
Youngs Grove Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Rockdale County
|
Hightower Trail Elementary School
|
Focus
|
Seminole County
|
Seminole County Middle/High School
|
Focus
|
Sumter County
|
Americus Sumter 9th Grade Academy
|
Priority
|
Sumter County
|
Americus Sumter High School
|
Priority
|
Tift County
|
Len Lastinger Primary School
|
Focus
|
As Georgia
transitions to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), GaDOE will no longer
identify Priority and Focus schools. Instead, GaDOE will be required to
identify and support Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) and Targeted
Support and Improvement (TSI) schools beginning in 2018-19 (CSI) and 2019-20
(TSI).
The
criteria for CSI and TSI schools are proposed in Georgia’s draft ESSA plan (pg. 39-40), which is currently
awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Education.
Click
here for additional information about the Priority and Focus criteria.
Click
here for information on rising CCRPI scores in Georgia.
Click
here for information on Georgia’s rising graduation rate.