South Fulton's

high schools are in the lower third of schools in the state, according

to a report card issued this week.

Creekside High

School ranked 251 out of 339 high schools surveyed by the Georgia Public

Policy Foundation. The area's other high schools did not fare much better.

Westlake ranked number 214, Tri-Cities ranked 253 and Banneker ranked

283.

This year,

the report card is interactive and provides users total access to objective

and statistically reliable data about Georgia's public schools.

The top ranked

school for the second straight year was Davidson Magnet High School in

Richmond County.

The 2002 Report

Card, available on the Internet at www.gppf.org , features an interactive

database that provides an enormous amount of statistical data about Georgia's

public schools. Parents can query and research the report card to help

them make informed assessments about the quality of public education in

our state. It is available free of charge to everyone.

This year's

Report Card includes the following data: district spending per student,

enrollment, all test subject scores, and data disaggregated by gender,

race/ethnicity, English proficiency, disability and socioeconomic status,

according to the Web site.

The primary

measure of student achievement in the report card is the average of the

percentage of students passing the reading and math sections of the 2001

Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.

Upon arriving

at the website, users will be able to access data via an electronic map,

the option of comparing schools by district or individually and making

geographic searches.

The Georgia

Department of Education, the Georgia Office of Education Accountability

and the National Center for Education

Statistics

provided the data for the report. The Foundation has been issuing the

Report Card for Parents since 1996.

The Georgia

Public Policy Foundation, a think-tank formed in 1991, is a nonpartisan,

member-supported research and education foundation that promotes free

markets, limited government and individual responsibility. It is the only

private, nonpartisan research organization in Georgia that focuses on

state policy.