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The good news is that Fayette

County's schools made their customary strong showing in the latest annual

statewide rankings released yesterday by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

The bad news is that the competition

is tougher, the result being that Fayette schools lost some ground in

the rankings and were supplanted by schools in other counties, including

a new high school in neighboring Coweta County.

For example, McIntosh High

School in Peachtree City fell from number two in the state to number 13,

compared to the comparable report card issued for 2000. Starr's Mill High

School in southern Peachtree City fell two places, from 14 down to 16.

Sandy Creek High School, north of Tyrone, slipped from 30th to 39th.

Fayette County High School

in Fayetteville held on to its 2000 slot, at number 19.

Three of Fayette's high schools

ranked in the top 20 in the state, and all four ranked in the top 40.

Four of the five middle schools in the county ranked in the top 25 statewide,

and two elementary schools came in among the top 11.

Rising Starr Middle School

ranked ninth in the state, followed by Fayette Middle (20th), Booth (21),

Whitewater (23) and Flat Rock (54th).

In the elementary category,

Peeples Elementary achieved an eighth-place ranking, followed by Braelinn

(11) and Kedron (29).

Coweta's new Northgate High

School, in the northeastern part of the county and just to the west of

Peachtree City, shaded McIntosh for the 12th spot in the top high school

rankings. That marks the first time in the past 20 years that a Coweta

school has finished ahead of a Fayette school in the state scholastic

rankings.

What are the top schools in

the state? Davidson Magnet High School in Richmond County is the top school

for two years running, while another Richmond County school, Johnson Magnet,

is number three. Number two is Columbus High School in Muscogee County.

The 2002 Report Card for Parents,

available for viewing online at www.gppf.org, includes a wide array of

data and allows parents to compare various schools through its unique

interactive setup.

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. 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, according to the GPPF web site.

Upon arriving at the Web site,

users will be able to access data via an electronic map, by elementary,

middle or high school or by school name. Users also have 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 issues.

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