Coweta County's

newest high school is soaring up one list of the best high schools in

the state.

Northgate High

School ranked number 12 in the latest report card issued by The Georgia

Public Policy Foundation.

This year,

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

and statistically reliable data about Georgia's public schools.

Northgate's

high ranking surpassed all of the high schools in Fayette County. McIntosh

in Peachtree City ranked number 13, while Starr's Mill came in at number

16. Fayette County High School was 19th, while Sandy Creek ranked 39th.

East Coweta

ranked 108th, while Newnan High School was number 170.

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 Web site, 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