School and school system scores for the 2012-2013 Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) released by the Ga. Dept. of Education (DOE) on April 21 has the Coweta County School System placing in the top third of Georgia’s school systems.
The CCRPI is the state of Georgia’s recently-enacted educational accountability system, which measures Georgia public schools and school systems on a broad set of academic criteria. This year’s report covers data from the 2012-13 school year, said school system spokesman Dean Jackson.
CCRPI carries a possible score of 100. The report measures schools and school districts on a scale made up of three major areas: Achievement (60 points possible), Progress (25 points possible) and Achievement Gap (15 points possible). The report compiles a single score for schools and districts, based on multiple points of data and weighting systems. The newly released scores mark the second year that public schools have rated using the CCRPI, Jackson said.
Jackson said the county’s elementary schools averaged 76.2 compared to a state score of 77.8 for all Georgia public elementary schools. Coweta’s middle schools scored 79.9 compared to a state score of 74.6. And the county’s high schools scored 74.8 compared to the state score of 71.8. The overall score for Coweta’s high schools were Northgate at 82.7, Newnan at 74.6 and East Coweta at 69.1.
“Our teachers, staff and students continue to work hard, and our performance this year as a school system has exceeded the state average on this new accountability tool,” said Coweta County Superintendent Steve Barker, adding that this year’s changes to the CCRPI and its late release posed difficulties for the school system. “The CCRPI is a complex instrument that measures a broad range of data. It isn’t a pass-fail instrument, and it can help schools and systems set benchmarks for school improvement planning. It can be a useful tool that reflects progress of our schools over time.”
Barker said it is important for teachers, principals and community to know that the indicators and standards in the CCRPI have changed in only the second year of implementation. It is also important to note that the release of last year’s data has come nearly at the end of this school year.
“Any lessons that we can learn from last year’s performance would have been much more useful to our schools at the beginning of the school year,” said Barker.
The Achievement score (60 percent of the CCRPI) is made up of three sections, including Content Mastery (40 percent), Post High School/Middle School/Elementary School Readiness (30 percent) and Graduation Rate/Graduation Rate Predictor (30 percent).
The Progress score (25 percent of the CCRPI) is calculated based on the percentage of a school’s students demonstrating typical or high growth via Student Growth Percentiles (SGP). An SGP describes a student’s growth on state tests relative to other students statewide with similar prior achievement. A student’s growth percentile can range from 1 to 99, and every student’s SGP may earn points towards the Progress Score.
The Achievement Gap score (15 percent of the CCRPI) assigns points to schools for their progress in closing, or having small achievement gaps, on state tests between schools’ lowest 25 percent of achievers and the state average. Comparisons are made between gap size from prior year to current year, and schools receive points in this section of the CCRPI for closing the achievement gap.
The CCRPI was launched in May 2013, covering student data from the 2011-12 school year. The CCRPI accountability system replaced the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measurement in Georgia. The U.S. Department of Education granted the state of Georgia a waiver from NCLB in 2012. The waiver required an accountability system of increased rigor and higher student benchmarks than previous accountability measures.
For more information visit www.cowetaschools.org
