Tuesday, March 20, 2012
© Copyright 2013
Rockdale Citizen
CONYERS -- Rockdale County's three public high schools have been included on a list of 156 schools in the state labeled as "focus" schools under the state's new accountability system.
Focus schools are one step above the state's worst-performing schools -- called "priority" schools -- which were released last week. The "focus" schools are Title I schools with a graduation rate of less than 60 percent over two years or that have large gaps between the highest and lowest achieving subgroup of students on campus.
Rockdale's three high schools -- Rockdale, Heritage and Salem -- were named to the list based on gaps in graduation rates among students with disabilities receiving regular diplomas and graduation rates among the highest-performing students. The school system's overall graduation rate is 86 percent.
Other designations for school performance under the state's new accountability standards are "alert" schools and "reward" schools. All designations will be handed out by the fall. The designations identify schools that will receive assistance and support for improvement.
Cindy Ball, director of Community Relations for the Rockdale school system, said Rockdale has improved its graduation rate for students with disabilities receiving regular diplomas at a rate greater than the state's over the past five years.
"It is important to note that RCPS has consistently improved its SWD regular diploma rate over the last five years," Ball wrote in a statement. "During the span of School Year 2007 to School Year 2011, RCPS improved its SWD regular diploma graduation rate 14.6 percent points. In comparison, the state average level of growth in the same time period demonstrates a 10.4 percent point growth trajectory."
Superintendent Samuel King said the school system will continue to work to improve achievement gaps.
"Although we have seen consistent improvement over the past five years, we take all achievement gaps seriously and must continue to close the gap in graduation rate between our SWD subgroup receiving regular diplomas and the highest subgroup graduation rate at each high school," King said in a statement. "We look forward to learning more about the support and interventions from the waiver requirements, which will help us achieve this goal."
Georgia falls under the new accountability system based on a waiver it received in February freeing the state's public schools from requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act. Nine other states also received waivers.
Since 2001, under the federal NCLB act, schools and school systems across the nation have been required to meet a certain set of standards based on scores, attendance and participation in order to meet AYP requirements. Georgia previously used the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and the Georgia High School Graduation Tests, as well as other collected data like elementary school absenteeism and a high school's graduation rate as the basis for its AYP standards.
Schools were measured as a whole and divided by subgroups like ethnicities, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged.
Each year, the standards were raised. By 2014, the act would have required that all students must be proficient in reading and math.
Now, the states excused from the law no longer have to meet that deadline. Instead, they will have to put forth plans showing they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.
More like this story
- Rockdale schools await more state lists ( March 22, 2012 )
- State names four Rockdale schools 'reward schools' ( October 31, 2012 )
- RCPS fails to meet AYP on initial results ( July 21, 2011 )
- Systems await more details of No Child waiver ( February 11, 2012 )
- RCPS, all schools meet AYP ( July 20, 2010 )
Comments
TheEx 1 year, 2 months ago
Now that the game has changed and the system can't "fix" things like they used to, the truth comes out. You cannot continue to close only certain achievement gaps (while you ignore others) by dumbing down the curriculum and teaching to the test. The CO is running out of air freshener to cover up their mess now that it has finally hit the fan. . .
johndoemo_ 1 year, 2 months ago
If our graduation rate is correct above, and I believe it is, then I think two things should happen. 1. Our system should get tougher on the SWD students who are causing behavior problems. and 2. We should make it harder to get free and reduced lunches. That is why we are a title 1 school system isnt it?I bet there are many students on free and reduced lunch that really don't need it. and it gets old to see students get away with disrespectful behavior because they have ADD or something that doesn't relate to being rude or criminal. If they expelled them, there would be less of a gap. I have no problem with my taxes going to educate students of any kind that are willing to follow the rules but you guys should use this opportunity to get tough on the ones that are hurting the system. I don't understand why you all are so weak.
roltheo 1 year, 2 months ago
SWD means "students with disabilities" and not students with behavioral problems. Some of our SWD students might the nicest citizen we have in the county. I hope people put the right focus on the problem we face and not start picking on subgroups. We must educate all students, period.
Sundance 1 year, 2 months ago
Are you saying that none of the SWD are discipline issues? If you are you are wrong. If they were tougher on the ones with thick discipline files, that would lower the number of students and allow teachers to spend quality time with the nice ones.
roltheo 1 year, 2 months ago
I simply said "some". Please take time to read before responding. We have bad apples in all groups. The gentleman was confusing SWD students with students with behavioral problems. Not all the SWD students and all the "Able" students have behavioral problems. We need to focus on the issues with associated facts and avoid the blame game and the labels. That's all.
CCHTS 1 year, 1 month ago
SWD are often behavioral problems, BD-behavioral disorder- is a SWD. Any student with and IEP is considered a SWD. While siome are the nicest, it does not change the fact that they are in over their heads in many of the classes. It is a simple concept that a student with less than a 70 IQ is not going to be able to handle advanced mathematical concepts, However, students are placed in classes that they should not be in and create disruptions because they have no other idea what to do. Society needs to accept that every person has his/her place and college might not necessarily be that place and instruction should be adjusted to meet the needs of the student and he or she should NOT count as a dropout but as a graduate.
Sundance 1 year, 2 months ago
Sorry to hear this news. I know many hard-working teachers at these high schools that have been working their tails off to get these scores up. It stinks that the disables students have this type of pressure put on them. It seems that something about this new measuring system needs to be tweaked. Also, If the school system hired an investigator like other systems to crack down on out-of-county students, that might help out scores. Our county is well known for the special education services and personal attention our SWD students recieve. I am sure we have some non-county residents in there.
Firefly1 1 year, 2 months ago
What is not mentioned is that a year ago there were multiple diplomas (College Preparatory, Technical, and Dual). Now all students must earn a College Preparatory diploma to graduate. Even though the SWD may have some concessions, the material they must learn and the expectations have drastically changed since last year.
What is sad is that instead of congratulating these schools for pushing all students to a higher graduation rate, this news is a punishment because of one group of students which had too high a graduation rate compared with the gains with the SWD on a more rigorous diploma than a year ago.
CCHTS 1 year, 1 month ago
You are not exactly correct. While the state did away with the different diplomas, they did so in name only. The requirements for the different types are the same but there is no distinction made between the two now. Students now choose a "pathway" which could be a path to college with includes additional math and science classes and also includes a 2-year foreign language requirement. This "pathway" allows students to leave high school and be admitted to a 4 year college. The other "pathways" that focus on career classes include less rigorous math and science requirements along with no foreign language requirement for graduation. The SWD do not have greater requirements than a year ago. The problem is that most SWD do not see the relevance of the instruction they are receiving in the classroom and they drop out. These students need to have the option of including their math and reading requirements within the hands on classes that they take within their pathway. Many of these students DO NOT need Math 1-3 which are the major barriers to graduation. Fortunately, for next year's freshmen, the state is returning to Algebra and Geometry instead of Jumble Math. That change should help to increase graduation rate by itself.
Firefly1 1 year, 1 month ago
Yet, as you have said, the SWD still have to take Math 1 -3 in order to graduate. In prior years, they did not have to take such a rigorous coursework to graduate. Consequently, they do have higher expectations than they used to have.
Also, the State is not returning to Algebra and Geometry. The State is just renaming Math 1 and Math 2 to sound more like Algebra and Geometry. Algebra 1 and most of Geometry as we know it is still going to be taught in the middle school level. The new Common Core is still an integrated math model that has Algebra, Geometry, and Statistics taught in all 3 of the main high school classes every year. The biggest difference is the name, not the rigor of the mathematics...in terms of content, quadratic functions will be moved to 10th grade instead of the current place in 9th grade. The other big change is that the new End of Course Tests will have some free response questions instead of all multiple choice questions. Unfortunately, this change alone will hurt the efforts to increase the graduation rate, especially among SWD.
reality_check1 1 year, 2 months ago
This story needs better explanation. Because rockdale did excellent job raising grad rate for one subgroup they were penalized when there was a larger gap between between this high performing group and students with disabilities! So had rockdale not performed so well in one group the "gap" would not have been so large and the high schools would not have been labeled! Even tho students with disabilities performed higher than that same subgroup throughout the state! Sorry to say that it appears state wants you to dumb down that high performing group! I'd love for the reporter to clarify.
roltheo 1 year, 2 months ago
Now is not the time to start the blame game... Although it is important to crack down on cheaters of all kinds, we must focus our attention on the real issue. SWD students, like all other students, deserve the best we have to offer and those students are also part of the elementary and middle schools population. Our elementary and middle schools are not on that list. This issue is a high school issue and points to a problem that we have in the county high schools. The performance of our staudents decline substantially once they reach our high schools and it is a fact that we need to accept and address. The definition of "Focus School" is as follows: "Receive federal SIG funding, has graduation rate of less than 60% for two straight years and has students who have fared poorly on assessment tests. The school receives Title I assistance. The primary difference between priority and focus schools is that focus schools have gaps in achievement and graduation rates between groups of students, while priority schools are the lowest performing 5%, focus schools are the 10% percent of Title I schools above them." The main point there is that our high schools are in the bottom 15% in the state and that is where our main focus should be. Let's not spend time parsing, spinning, and blaming. Let's discuss what we can do to help all students and pull ourselves to a respectable place amongst all the schools in the state. The future of our county depends partly on how well our schools perform.
VeritasVincit 1 year, 2 months ago
It would be great for the gap data to be fully released. It is my understanding that if there is a gap, even if all groups meets or exceed the standards, a school will still be placed on the “focus” list. How will the RCPS leadership respond? Where will the pressure be placed, teachers, students, and/or parents?
mark 1 year, 2 months ago
Just read a similar story in the AJC and for all of you who believe that this county is doing a great job check these figures. Below are area counties and the number of High Schools that fell into this cattegory
Henry 0 Clayton 2 Fulton 2 Cobb 0 Dekalb 1 Gwinnett 3 and the city of Atlanta 1
Are you kidding Rockdale is 3 for 3! We are by far the smallest and yet we lead the pack even the great Dr. King can not spin this one. I am so glad my child is about to get out!
ctownslimm 1 year, 2 months ago
Did you also check to see how many of those counties have high schools which are Title 1? Title 1 schools tend to be elementary and middle schools. It's an important distinction.
I'm sure your child's teachers and adminstrators will not grieve the loss of a negative parent.
You might double check your spelling and punctuation next time, too.
mark 1 year, 2 months ago
Do you honestly believe that Clayton, Dekalb and city of Atlanta do not have Title One schools? Not to mention Fulton and Gwinnett. And let's all rmember those who live in glass houses...........................you should have written "one" instead of using the number.
ctownslimm 1 year, 1 month ago
"Title 1" (with the numeral, not the word) is the official way to refer to the term. Please refer to government websites for confirmation.
And if you read what I wrote, I asked... "did you check to see how many of those counties have HIGH SCHOOLS which are Title 1?" That's an important distinction. Again.
ctownslimm 1 year, 1 month ago
If we want to get really technical, we should both use the Roman numeral "I"-- see http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg1.html
Sundance 1 year, 2 months ago
OK Mark, beleive what you want but you are not smart if you would send your kids to Lithonia, Redan, or Stone Mountain high school because their gap is lower and they didnt make the list. Guess what, the gap is low because all of the scores are low. Their graduation rate is also lower. So go ahead. Lithonia is waiting!
roltheo 1 year, 2 months ago
@Sundance: You may want to slow down a bit before responding to more postings. Try to stay away from the labels. You sounded a bit defensive in your argument. I would not focus on graduation rate as a measure of success if I were you. Read my posting below in reply to @VertasVincit.
VeritasVincit 1 year, 2 months ago
Ponder this, are the high schools being punished for actually holding students with disabilities accountable for actually learning the material? SWD runs a large are from dyslexia to mental handicaps.
To those already comparing us to the other counties, are you looking at schools that do not meet the graduation rate or looking at the gaps?
I agree that more information needs to be made available but not even the schools have been given all the information yet.
roltheo 1 year, 2 months ago
Graduation rate may not be a good measure of success for high school students. We need to look at factors such as standardized tests (SAT, ACT, AP, etc) for those students aspiring to go to college and other measures for those interested in going to work right after HS. Graduation rate can be manipulated because of all the safety nets such as credit recovery, online courses, grade curving, etc. being used, but SAT and ACT tests do not lie since the school systems are not in charge of them. It is a sad story when children graduate from HS with a diploma and need to take remedial courses in college or find themselves out there with few choices for a bright future.
VeritasVincit 1 year, 2 months ago
Agreed, we need a national standard not developed by a politically biased institution or the federal government itself. We cannot use Georgia made standards and/or tests.
AWOL 1 year, 2 months ago
Graduation rate is definitely not the only thing you should look at. But a school with 60% or less is bad. It means that 40% of the kids are not getting diplomas. And guess what? Those schools with low graduation rates have bad SAT scores as well. SO I really dont understand your argument. You are arguing in circles on several different fronts. It seems as though you just like to be contradictory.
roltheo 1 year, 1 month ago
The point here is that graduation rate can be manipulated since it is a self managed and self reported metric. The schools do not administer the standardized tests themselves and there is no opportunity for cheating by the schools. If a school is graduating quality students who are ready for college, it is highly likely that such school will have respectable SAT/ACT scores even if the graduation rate is low. RCHS has a higher graduation rate than Salem and Heritage but RCHS has lower SAT scores than the other two. May be your logic is suspect.
CCHTS 1 year, 1 month ago
The graduation rates include only students that are in regular education programs that graduate no more than 4 years after they walk into high school. If a student, graduates in more than 4 year, they do not count. If they are not intellectually capable of meeting the requirements and/or have to receive instruction in small groups away from the rest of the school population, they do not count. If they have handicaps that do not allow them to walk, talk or speak, they do not count. All of these students that do not count towards graduation rates ARE counted as dropouts by the state whether they complete all of the requirements or not.
Frustrated 1 year, 2 months ago
No matter what figures you look at, we need to identify the problem and find a solution. The people of Rockdale County need to work together to make the schools better.
Ramjam 1 year, 1 month ago
It sounds like Roltheo just wants to show everyone she has some knowledge about something. Almost everyone wants to feel like an expert but you really aren't being very clear about what your point is. We understand that you know something about special education. good work. Now what is your point??
roltheo 1 year, 1 month ago
You do NOT deserve a response because we have not taken the time to read and comprehend any of the postings before making a personal attack.
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