Schools

Cherokee Schools Excel in New Performance Index

Cherokee County schools have exceeded the state averages on the College and Career Ready Performance Index despite metrics that harm some schools.

Cherokee County schools have topped the state averages on the new College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), despite some metrics that put schools with large populations of at-risk students at a disadvantage.

92 percent of county elementary schools earned a CCRPI score of 82 or better, with 42 percent of them earning scores of 90 or better. All middle schools exceeded the 82 mark, with 86 percent earning scores of 90 or better. 83 percent of high schools earned a CCRPI mark of 86 or better.

The new CCRPI system is meant to replace the No Child Left Behind Act's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system, though the new system is not without its own flaws.

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According to a Cherokee County School District (CCSD) memo, a staff assessment of the CCRPI results examined each school's scores with the percentages of at-risk students in each school. The assessment showed a clear link between a higher percentage of at-risk students and lower CCRPI scores. 

"Unfortunately, CCRPI's use of the same grading formula for these schools as is used to gauge schools with very small at-risk populations may lead some in the community to mistakenly think that these schools are not of the same outstanding quality as those in the School District's higher-income areas," the memo says.

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In light of these grading metrics, the school district has reached out to the Georgia Department of Education to discuss ways CCRPI metrics can be improved. Suggestions brought forth by CCSD include:

  • Giving greater weight to the progress of at-risk students in reaching academic goals
  • Adjusting the flag system to better indicate success by subgroups in meetng subgroup performance targets
  • Ending the practice of placing the same struggling student into multiple subgroups; this practice inappropriately casts schools with large at-risk populations in a negative light
  • Eliminating race-based performance targets

Below is a complete school-by-school breakdown of Holly Springs' CCRPI 2011-12 pilot scores:

Elementary

SCHOOL GRADE K-5 SCORE GRADE 6 SCORE % OF ENGLISH LEARNERS % OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITES  % OF ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED % OF ED/EL/SWD Avery Elementary School
92.3 - 5 12 22 31 Free Home Elementary School 88.5 - 5 10 33 40 Hickory Flat Elementary School 94.3 92.1 1 10 16 21 Holly Springs Elementary School 82.5 82.9 6 9 45 49 Indian Knoll Elementary 87.9 88.4 7 12 32 39

Middle

SCHOOL GRADE 6-8 OR 7-8 % OF ENGLISH LEARNERS % OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITES % OF ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED % OF ED/EL/SWD Creekland Middle School 92.1 1 11 22 28 Dean Rusk Middle School 95.2 1 10 29 34

High

SCHOOL GRADES 9-12 % OF ENGLISH LEARNERS % OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITES % OF ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED % OF ED/EL/SWD Creekview High School 87.5 1 10 18 25 Sequoyah High School 87.5 1 10 26 33

 

Please see the attached memo for more information and data on the CCRPI pilot scores in Cherokee County.


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