What’s it feel like to go to your school?

One Muscogee County public school received a top grade in the Georgia Department of Education’s second annual School Climate Star Ratings.

Britt David Magnet Academy is among 259 schools in the state, out of approximately 2,200, that earned 5 stars on the 1-5 scale, based on surveys of students, personnel and parents, as well as student discipline data and attendance records for students and personnel in 2014-15 school year.

“I am extremely proud of all stakeholders at Britt David,” principal Clara Davis told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Thursday.

The ratings are designed to measure what the department calls the “quality and character of school life – the ‘culture’ of the school.”

In other words, the ratings show what it feels like to be a student there, have your children attend there or work there. So these are subjective scores, as opposed to the state’s objective measurement, called the College and Career Ready Performance Index. The CCRPI scores, which the Ledger-Enquirer reported last month per district and per school, are based on the state’s standardized exams, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System.

Britt David is the Muscogee County School District’s only elementary school considered to be a total magnet, meaning it doesn’t have an attendance zone but it does have a waiting list. Students from throughout the district may apply, and they may be returned to their zoned school if their academics and behavior become substandard.

But in the 2014 School Climate Star Ratings, the first year of the surveys, Britt David wasn’t among the four Muscogee County schools and 334 in the state with 5 stars. They were Key and Midland elementary schools, Double Churches Middle and Columbus High. Columbus and Early College Academy also are total magnet schools.

Schools need at least a 95.1 on the climate index to earn a 5-star rating. Britt David received 94.5 last year, prompting Davis to study the formula to determine how the school could improve. The significant difference this year was more participation in the survey, she said. The school’s personnel participation was lower than the 75 percent threshold, so it wasn’t counted in the 2014 score. No participation percentage is available in the report, but it was enough to allow the personnel’s 90.2 rating of the school to count in 2015.

Davis said she strongly encouraged staff and parents to complete the survey, and that the increased participation boosted Britt David to a fifth star in the ratings.

“School climate is an essential element of a school’s culture,” Muscogee County superintendent David Lewis told the L-E in an email Thursday, “and these ratings provide a snapshot of student, parent and staff perceptions that, when triangulated with other data points such as attendance and discipline records, provide a composite view in this area.

“We commend those school communities who have worked to improve their ratings in this important metric. Region chiefs will be working with the schools in their region to analyze and address specific areas in need of improvement.”

CCRPI comparison

When the state released the 2014 School Climate Star Ratings last year, Georgia superintendent Richard Woods said, “If your school has a positive climate, it’s giving students the environment they need to learn. You’ll likely see high achievement there – or a school that’s on the right track toward high achievement.”

Case in point: Comparing the reports for 2014 and 2015, Key’s climate rating plummeted from 5 stars to 2 stars, and its CCRPI score tumbled from 71.6 to 63.0. But the link between climate rating and CCRPI includes some interesting exceptions in Muscogee County:

▪  Twelve of the district’s 13 schools with climate ratings of 2 stars or 1 star have CCRPI scores at 63.8 or below. Less than 60 on the 100-point CCRPI scale is considered failing. Bonus points may allow a score’s CCRPI to exceed 100 points. Jordan, however, managed to score 75.4 on the CCRPI despite a 2-star climate rating, indicating the school has achieved academically better than its reputation.

▪  Although they have failing CCRPI scores, eight Muscogee County schools received 3-star climate ratings, indicating the atmosphere is more hopeful than their test scores: East Columbus (59.7), Waddell (58.1), Fox (55.6), South Columbus (54.4), Martin Luther King Jr. (51.4), Brewer (52.0), Forrest Road (50.8) and Eddy (48.3).

▪  Fifteen of the 18 Muscogee County schools with climate ratings of 4 or 5 stars have CCRPI scores of at least 70.4. The outliers are Richards (67.0), Arnold (62.1) and Wynnton (60.1), indicating their reputations are better than their academic achievement.

▪  Arnold and Wynnton made the district’s biggest improvement in the climate ratings, jumping from 2 stars to 4 stars. But their CCRPI scores moved in the opposite direction. Arnold’s dramatically dropped from 75.8 to 62.1 and Wynnton’s slipped from 63.5 to 60.1.

▪  And then there was Columbus High’s curious anomaly. It has been ranked among the best in the state and the nation for years (No. 2 in Georgia and No. 80 in the country, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s latest list of Best High Schools). But while its CCRPI improved from 83.8 in 2014 to 98.0 in 2015, its climate rating dropped from 5 stars to 3 stars.

Other counties

All seven of Harris County’s public schools were considered at least above average in the 2015 climate ratings. New Mountain Hill Elementary School led the way with 5 stars, improving from 3 stars in 2014. The county’s six others received 4 stars.

Compared to 2014, the high school improved from 3 stars, Creekside and Park fell from 5 stars, and Mulberry Creek, Pine Ridge and the middle school remained at 4 stars.

Harris County superintendent Jimmy Martin wasn’t reached for comment.

Chattahoochee County Middle School’s 3 stars is the highest rating in ChattCo, receiving the same rating in 2014. The high school received 2 stars, and the elementary school received 1 star, both dropping from 4 stars.

“We seem to have lost potential climate rating points because of low participation on the surveys from the various stakeholder groups,” ChattCo superintendent David McCurry told the L-E in an email Thursday. “This is something we as a school system can easily improve on by simply monitoring the participation rates closer during the survey window.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 3:13 PM with the headline "What’s it feel like to go to your school?."