Several area schools move off state’s priority, focus lists

Ten Middle Georgia schools have moved off the state’s Priority and Focus Schools lists.

In a report released Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Education identified 61 Georgia schools that have made improvements that allowed them to exit the lists.

Priority Schools are the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title 1 schools, based on achievement data, and those with a graduation rate less than 60 percent for two years in a row. The Focus Schools list is based on achievement gap data and represents the lowest-performing 10 percent of Title 1 schools.

In Bibb County, Lane Elementary moved off the focus list, with Ballard-Hudson Middle and Brookdale Elementary remaining. L.H. Williams moved off the priority list. Schools still on that report are Bruce, Southfield, Hartley, Ingram-Pye, Martin Luther King Jr. and Riley elementary schools and Northeast, Southwest and Westside high schools.

Huntington Middle and Pearl Stephens Elementary in Houston County exited the focus list, as well as Dublin Middle and Dasher Elementary with Dublin City Schools and Baldwin County’s Creekside and Midway elementary schools. Peach County’s Fort Valley Middle is off the focus list, and Peach County High is off the priority list.

Twiggs County High is a Priority School. Eagle Ridge Elementary in Baldwin County and Miller Elementary in Houston are still Focus Schools.

“We continue to see that underperforming schools can improve and move the needle for their students, even when they face difficult odds,” Superintendent Richard Woods said in a press release. “And we’ve seen once again that intensive, intentional partnerships between schools, districts, communities and our department can equip schools with the resources they need to improve student achievement.”

Woods said the school achievements are due to increases in graduation rates and College and Career Readiness Performance Index scores.

This story was originally published December 5, 2017 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Several area schools move off state’s priority, focus lists."