Muscogee County doubles its number of schools awarded by state
The Muscogee County School District has doubled its number of schools honored by the state for excellence in academic performance or improvement, based on results from the previous three years of standardized tests.
MCSD has six schools among the 9 percent of public schools in Georgia to be honored this year by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement in the categories of Greatest Gains or Highest Performing.
The honored MCSD schools and the reasons for their awards are: Britt David Magnet Academy for Highest Performing and Greatest Gains, for the second straight year the only local school to be honored in both categories; Aaron Cohn and Blackmon Road middle schools, North Columbus Elementary School and Northside High School (second straight year) for Greatest Gains; and Columbus High School for Highest Performing (second straight year).
“We commend all of our highest performing and greatest gains schools, which doubled from last year,” MCSD superintendent David Lewis said in a news release Monday. “The fact that these recognitions are based on a three-year average is a testament to each school’s consistent high performance.”
Chattahoochee County Education Center and Mountain View Elementary School in Meriwether County are the other Columbus area schools on GOSA’s award list this year, both for the second straight year in Greatest Gains. Three schools in the Columbus area dropped off GOSA’s award list from last year to this year: Mulberry Creek Elementary School in Harris County and Franklin Forest and Mountville elementary schools in Troup County, all for Greatest Gains.
GOSA, which serves as the reporting and accountability agency for education in Georgia, has awarded 218 out of the state’s 2,292 public schools this year. The awards come from the College and Career Ready Performance Index scores, which give schools one overall number to represent how they did on the state exams. Those exams were the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests in 2014 and the more rigorous Georgia Milestones Assessment System in 2015 and 2016.
To receive a Greatest Gains award, the three-year average CCRPI Progress Score must be in the 99th percentile for Platinum, the 97th percentile for Gold, the 95th percentile for Silver and the 93rd Percentile for Bronze. The CCRPI Single Score must remain in at least the same range, and the school may not be on the Priority or Focus lists.
Priority Schools are among the lowest 5 percent of Title I schools in academic achievement. Focus Schools are among the lowest 10 percent of Title I schools in achievement gap, which is the gap between the school’s bottom quartile of students and the state average, as well as the degree to which that gap is closing. Title I schools receive extra federal funding if at least 40 percent of their students come from impoverished families.
To receive a Highest Performing award, the three-year average CCRPI Achievement Score must be in the 99th percentile for Platinum, the 97th percentile for Gold, the 95th percentile for Silver and the 93rd Percentile for Bronze. The CCRPI Single Score each year must be at least 90 for Platinum or Gold and at least 80 for Silver or Bronze, and the CCRPI Achievement Gap Score must be at least in the 75th percentile to ensure the performance of the school’s lowest-achieving students isn’t lagging. These schools also may not be on the Priority or Focus lists.
Britt David is one of only six schools in the state to earn platinum awards in both categories this year. The others are Lassiter High School in Cobb County, Austin Elementary School in DeKalb County, Brookwood Elementary School and Johns Creek Elementary School in Forsyth County and Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology in Gwinnett County.
Blackmon Road earned a gold, Aaron Cohn a silver and North Columbus and Northside a bronze for Greatest Gains, and Columbus High earned a silver for Highest Performing. Chattahoochee County Education Center and Mountain View earned a bronze for Greatest Gains.
The awarded schools receive a certificate and banner to be displayed in their school.
Mark Rice: 706-576-6272, @markricele
This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Muscogee County doubles its number of schools awarded by state."