Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS - The Rockdale County School System has met Adequate Yearly Progress for the fourth consecutive year and had all of its schools meet AYP.According to initial results from the 2008-09 AYP reports released Tuesday by the Georgia Department of Education, RCPS met federal and state requirements through academic performance, test participation and another indicator.RCPS is one of 46 school districts in the state in which all schools met AYP."I congratulate (RCPS) Superintendent Samuel King and Rockdale County Public Schools for meeting AYP for the fourth consecutive year," State Superintendent Kathy Cox said in a press release. "This achievement is confirmation that Rockdale continues to attain performance objectives and encourage students to meet or exceed academic goals. I also commend Rockdale County Public Schools for implementing a comprehensive, multi-year strategic plan that enables the system to focus on student achievement and quality teaching."Since 2001, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools and school systems across the nation are required to meet a certain set of standards based on scores and participation on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test and the Georgia High School Graduation Test, as well as other collected data like student attendance and the graduation rate. Each year, those standards may increase. Schools that don't meet AYP on a regular basis eventually may be placed on the state's Needs Improvement list depending on their past performance; no schools in RCPS are on the Needs Improvement list."As the bar continues to rise in all academic areas and schools continue to implement a more rigorous curriculum, our students, teachers, administrators and support staff continue to work hard and remain focused," King said in a press release. "This accomplishment of achieving AYP for the fourth year in a row is evidence that we are working diligently to provide all students with the necessary tools to reach their highest potential."This is the first school year since the 2005-06 school year that all RCPS schools have met AYP. During the 2006-07 school year, Heritage High School was the only school in the system that did not meet AYP. During the 2007-08 school year, Hightower Trail Elementary School and Conyers and Memorial middle schools did not meet AYP on initial reports. Last year, Conyers and Memorial middle schools came back to meet AYP once final results added retake test results of the CRCT.In Georgia, more than 79 percent of the state's public schools met AYP according to the initial results. Once final AYP results are released, usually in September, more Georgia schools may meet AYP, since those results include retest results from students who took the standardized tests again over the summer.A complete list of data for all of the schools in Rockdale County and other school systems across the state is available on the Georgia Department of Education Web site, www.gadoe.org.Michelle Floyd can be reached at michelle.floyd@newtoncitizen.com.