Muscogee County School District produces its highest CCRPI score

The Muscogee County School District has produced its highest score in the fifth annual release of the state’s index that measures public school performance. MCSD also has improved for the third straight year.

According to results the Georgia Department of Education released Thursday, MCSD scored a 70.5 on the 100-point College and Career Ready Performance Index in 2016, improving by 1.5 points from 2015. Muscogee’s score was 67.2 in 2012, 66.5 in 2013 and 68.5 in 2014.

Unlike previous years since its inception in 2012, the formula to calculate the CCRPI didn’t change from 2015 to 2016, Georgia Department of Education chief communications officer Matt Cardoza told the Ledger-Enquirer. “2012-2014 are comparable and 2015-2016 are comparable,” he said.

MCSD also closed its gap with the state average and continued to outperform in improvement and overall score the school districts in Georgia’s other second-tier cities, which have similar size and demographics.

The state’s average CCRPI score decreased by 1.9 points, from 75.5 in 2015 to 73.6 in 2016. Bibb County (Macon) increased by 0.6 points, from 60.8 to 61.4; Chatham County (Savannah) decreased by 0.9 points, from 65.4 to 64.5; Richmond County (Augusta) decreased by 4.5 points, from 62.4 to 57.9.

“We are pleased to see this affirmation of the hard work of our students, teachers and school-based and district staff as evidenced by the continuation of the positive trends over the past few years leading to our district’s highest CCRPI score to date,” MCSD superintendent David Lewis said in a news release.

Among the ways MCSD has tried to improve student achievement, according to the release, is through school-based leadership changes, targeted allocation of resources to struggling schools, adoption of additional core and supplemental instructional materials, parent and community engagement meetings, school-specified professional development and region-specific support.

“We celebrate our progress but remain focused on the ongoing need for improvement at all levels, especially those schools facing greater challenges,” Lewis said. “However, as these results indicate, given the time, resources and parental and community support, they can and will be successful.”

Asked what concerns him most about the district’s CCRPI scores and what MCSD is doing to address that concern, Lewis said, “A review of aggregate data shows that although we are decreasing the gap with the state average at the middle level, the improvement is not as robust as we would like. We have added supplemental instructional materials and support staff as well as focused professional development this school year to further address these concerns.”

The CCRPI combines state-mandated annual data into one number to determine and communicate how well public schools are doing. The index comprises three main factors adding up to 100 points:

▪  Achievement 50 points.

▪  Progress 40 points.

▪  Achievement Gap 10 points.

Achievement is based on standardized test scores and graduation rate. Progress is determined by Student Growth Percentile, defined as improvement compared to other students with similar prior achievement. Achievement Gap compares the achievement of a school’s bottom 25 percent of students with the state average on standardized tests.

Schools also may receive a maximum of 10 Challenge Points, accounting for the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged, English learners or disabled. Challenge Points also may be awarded for participation in college and career readiness programs that exceed expectations.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Muscogee County School District produces its highest CCRPI score."