2009 Update

Updated AYP shows 4 more schools make AYP; 82% of GSCS making AYP
Friday, September 18th, 2009

GRIFFIN, Ga. - Four more schools have joined the original ten schools making 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). These schools are Anne Street Elementary, Atkinson Elementary, Beaverbrook Elementary, and Kennedy Road Middle. They join Cowan Road Elementary, Crescent Elementary, Futral Road Elementary, Jackson Road Elementary, Jordan Hill Elementary, Moore Elementary, Moreland Road Elementary, Orrs Elementary, Carver Road Middle and Taylor Street Middle in making AYP in 2009.

The new AYP status reflects the higher scores of students in grades 3, 5, and 8 who were re-tested in June on the CRCT as well as results from school and system appeals.  The final AYP report shows 82% of Griffin-Spalding schools made AYP compared with 70% last year. By figuring in the summer CRCT retest scores and appeals, the number of Griffin-Spalding schools making AYP for 2009 rose from 58% to 82%.

Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones said, "Congratulations to these additional schools for making AYP. This success reflects the dedication of parents and teachers working with their students and the students' focus on the retest. We are daring to do better!"

July 28, 2009

Initial AYP report for Griffin-Spalding shows ten schools met goals

GRIFFIN, Ga. - When the Georgia Department of Education released the official Adequate Yearly Progress reports this month,  it showed 10 of 17 Griffin-Spalding County schools made AYP, which is identical to the system's initial status last year. The schools that have made AYP on this initial report are Cowan Road Elementary, Crescent Elementary, Futral Road Elementary, Jackson Road Elementary, Jordan Hill Elementary, Moore Elementary, Moreland Road Elementary, Orrs Elementary, Carver Road Middle, and Taylor Street Middle School.

Denise Burrell, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction said, "Because of CRCT retest scores, we anticipate several more schools making AYP when results for the second round are released."

 "The report shows our high school graduation rate increased from 64.3% to 68.2%, which is almost a 4% increase," Burrell said. "The only subgroup whose rate did not increase is students with disabilities.

"As a system, we saw a slight increase in all subgroups on the CRCT in math; we saw decreases in all subgroups on the CRCT in English/language arts; and we saw decreases in all subgroups except white students on the  Georgia High School Graduation Tests in math and English/language arts.

"This year's results show our system is in Needs Improvement Year 2, which means we must implement an action plan. The plan will address the areas where we must make progress in order to make AYP as a system."

Plan for improvement
Part of the school system's plan for improving is to specifically target student groups where progress is not being made and those students who are included in more than two AYP categories.  In addition, plans call for raising
graduation rates by having Individual Graduation Plans for students.

Mrs. Burrell said, "There are strategies in place that are working that will continue such as credit recovery programs and remediation for the high school graduation test. "Our intention is to improve reading scores for all students through the use of these strategies and programs:

• Guided Reading, Imagination Station, use of Lexile scores, and
  Saxon Phonics in elementary schools;
• Required instructional minutes for Reading/English language arts, math and Humanities in elementary schools
• Read 180, System 44, and Expert 21 at all middle schools
• Read 180 at Griffin High School, Spalding High School, Griffin-Spalding Alternative School, and A. Z. Kelsey Academy.

"We plan to use these programs and strategies to improve math scores:

• Implement ALEKS in, middle schools and high schools
• Implement new Advanced Content units in 8th grade math
• Use flexible grouping for students all year
• Use math predictor tests for the graduation test
• Have Individual Action Plans for identified students
• Use Exemplars in grades K-8"

AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) is part of the federal No Child Left Behind requirements.  AYP is determined in three areas:  test participation, academic performance, and second indicator.  The test participation and academic performance is calculated for grades 3-8 on the English/language arts and math portions of the CRCT and for 11th grade students on the English/language arts and math portions of the GHSGT.

2008 UPDATE - Five more Griffin-Spalding schools make AYP
October 3, 2008

Five additional schools joined the original seven schools making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) earlier this year. These schools are Atkinson Elementary, Jackson Road Elementary, Orrs Elementary, Carver Road Middle and Kennedy Road Middle. These join Anne Street Elementary, Crescent Elementary, Futral Road Elementary, Jordan Hill Elementary, Moore Elementary, Taylor Street Middle and Spalding High in making AYP in 2008.

The new AYP results come from students in grades 3, 5, and 8 whose summer retest scores from the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) were high enough to meet standards as well as from school and system appeals.

The final AYP report mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act shows that 70% of Griffin-Spalding schools made AYP compared with 76% last year.

The Georgia Department of Education acknowledges that it was harder for all schools to make AYP. The percentage of students that had to pass state tests in math, reading and English went up for all grade levels.

Students were also doing more rigorous work and taking more rigorous tests, especially in math. State Superintendent Kathy Cox said, "Our new curriculum definitely sets higher expectations, and some students simply needed a little more time to master the work. Once the results of summer retests were added, we saw the AYP numbers improve dramatically."

By figuring in the summer CRCT retest scores, the number of Griffin-Spalding schools making AYP rose from 41% to 70%.

Superintendent Dr. Jesse Bradley said, "Congratulations to these additional schools for making AYP. We appreciate parents who saw that their students went to summer school and did their best on the retest. As the percentage rises for the number of students who must pass the CRCT for their school to make AYP, we know our school community will join us in putting forth their best effort."

2008 

New AYP report shows Griffin-Spalding County graduation rate up 8%

Today, when the Georgia Department of Education released the official AYP determinations, the Griffin-Spalding County School System results were up in some areas and down in others.

The graduation rate for the system increased from 55% to 63.5% this year. The graduation rate increased 11% at Griffin High School alone.

"The number of graduates from A.Z. Kelsey Academy helped increase our system graduation rate," said Denise Burrell, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. "Our graduation rate increased in the subgroups of all students, black students, white students, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.

Other highlights

• Seven of 17 schools made AYP. Last year 13 of 17 schools made AYP.
• Some elementary schools may make AYP based on appeals when the results of the CRCT re-test this summer are included.
• Some elementary schools did not make AYP because of the academic performance of one subgroup.
• AYP elementary and middle school academic performance is based on performance on the CRCT in grades 3-8. Since our math scores were low in these grades, it is not surprising some schools and therefore the system did not make AYP.
• We are continuing work in the area of math, including extensive professional development for teachers in grades 3-5 and grade 8.

To view the report school by school, please visit the Georgia AYP website.

2007
July 2007 - "You can't get much better than our elementary schools' performance," Assistant Superintendent Curtis Jones said, of the AYP results of our 11 pre-K -5th grade schools, all of whom made AYP for the school year just ended. The story was different at the secondary level with only two schools- Kennedy Road Middle School and Spalding High School - making AYP.

"We continue to struggle with secondary math," said Denise Burrell, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. "As math processes become more complex in 6th through 12th grades, we lose ground in performance. We are adding strategies that have helped other schools' performances, such as partnering with a university that has a good track record helping improve K-12 achievement in math."

English scores increase on Graduation Test and CRCT from 2006 to 2007

Overall there was improvement in performance for every student group on the Georgia High School Graduation Test in both enhanced English/language arts and math. All students improved from 87% passing in 2006 to 93% passing in 2007. In math all students improved from 69% passing in 2006 to 72% passing in 2007.

Dr. Jesse Bradley, Superintendent, said, "When schools don't make AYP, it does not necessarily indicate poor performance. We have seen improvement with every student group, blacks to whites to students with disabilities on the graduation test in math and English. AYP standards for passing scores are higher than the state of Georgia standards on the graduation test."

English/language arts CRCT scores showed improvement from 2006 to 2007. The percentages of each nine groups of students improved. For example, 82% of the "all students" group met or exceeded standards in 2006 with 86% of the group meeting or exceeding standards in 2007.

Math CRCT scores decline 3% from 2006 to 2007

Math CRCT scores showed 77% of students meeting or exceeding in 2006 with 74% meeting or exceeding in 2007. Denise Burrell says, "We are not surprised with the number of students at this level in 2007 because new math standards for grades 1, 2, and 7 began this year.

"However, 74% of our students met or exceeded the state bar set at 58.3% for meeting or exceeding standards in math. We fell short in the students with disabilities group, students who must score at the same level on the same test as our regular students."

Bradley noted, "We are in a continuous school improvement model. This year our AYP report had some highs and some lows. We will keep working to fill gaps so that all students will achieve on grade level - no matter the ethnic group or socioeconomic level."