Two Douglas County Schools, Lithia Springs High School and Turner Middle School, were recognized by the Georgia Department of Education Dec. 18 as being among 38 schools out of 235 sites to exit the Priority and Focus Schools list. As part of the waiver from No Child Left Behind, the state DOE was required to identify Priority Schools and Focus Schools, which were determined based on achievement data from all core content areas, graduation rate data, and gap between the highest performing and lowest performing subgroups based on achievement and graduation rate data. No other Douglas County School System schools are designated as Priority or Focus schools. “This is a great accomplishment for both of these schools,” Superintendent Dr. Gordon Pritz said. “It is the result of a lot of hard work by teachers, administrators and students at Lithia Springs High School and Turner Middle School.” Both schools were removed from the Priority and Focus Schools list because they met the required achievement criteria: • Schools identified for achievement have decreased the percent “not proficient” student status by 18 percent. • Schools identified for graduation rate have increased the graduation rate by 8 percent at the school level or at the subgroup level. Lithia Springs High Principal Dr. Garrick Askew said he was pleased his school was removed from the Georgia Priority Schools list. “LSHS was placed on the list with the initiation of its School Improvement Grant (SIG) three years ago,” Askew said on Dec. 18. “In addition, the school’s achievement status at the time it received the grant was in line with schools on the Priority Schools list because of academic struggles. Earlier this fall we received word from the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) that LSHS would be removed from the Priority Schools list because our SIG grant concluded. Today, we received additional information from GADOE confirming that LSHS also met the academic progress exit criteria set by GADOE to be removed from the Priority Schools list. “Reflecting on our journey over the past three years, the administrators, students, and staff at LSHS used the SIG grant to support our renewed focus on the school’s culture, quality of instruction, and student expectations,” he continued. “Parents and the community were supportive of these efforts. As a result, we were able to move LSHS’ College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) score from 57.3 points in 2012 to 70.2 points in 2014, a difference of 12.9 total points. Our current score of 70.2 points is also above the state average for high schools on CCRPI for 2014. LSHS’ current academic status is a manifestation of the dedicated work of our entire school community and we could not be more proud as we also look to continue to build on the progress that the school has made.” Turner Principal Kwame Carr said his school is now ranked one of the top performing Title I middle schools in Georgia. “Three years ago Turner was one of 156 schools identified by the Georgia Department of Education as a Focus School,” Carr said. “Now we are one of only 20 percent of all Focus Schools that met the goals and is removed from the list in 2014.” Focus Schools were identified in Georgia in 2011 as the lowest performing 10 percent of Title I schools in the state based upon an achievement gap between two or more subgroups. Once identified, the Focus School designation lasts three years. In that three-year period, schools are given support and the opportunity to remove their school from the list at the end of the three years by posting a 25 percent reduction in the achievement gap. “Our teachers, staff and students worked diligently to improve the culture of teaching and learning at Turner Middle School, with the end goal of being competitive with similar schools around the state,” Carr concluded.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:58:52 +0000
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