Thousands of Gwinnett County students enrolled in low performing public schools have the option to transfer this week.

A provision under the federal No Child Left Behind Act provides school choice to children attending campuses that fail to meet state benchmarks measuring student achievement.

Forums will be held at six schools today to discuss transfers or other options available to students, should they decide to remain at their home school. Extras such as free tutoring often are a deciding factor when families have to choose whether to send children to new schools or keep them in their neighborhood, said Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett Schools.

"You can't decide to transfer and still take part in tutoring," Roach said. "We really want to make sure parents are aware of what additional help will be offered if their child stays at their school. A lot of parents, when they learn about the resources that will be offered, they opt to keep them there."

Last year, of the 20,200 students in low performing schools who were offered transfers, only 189 took advantage of the option. More than 11,800 students will be considering school choice again this year. The schools offering tutoring and transfers are: Berkmar High School, Meadowcreek High School, Richards Middle School, Snellville Middle School, Sweetwater Middle School and Radloff Middle School.

Berkmar High, Richards Middle, Snellville Middle and Meadowcreek High are on a state list of schools that "Need Improvement" for not achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals. They will offer both tutoring and transfers. Meadowcreek, which enters its third year as a Needs Improvement School, also faces corrective action to improve student achievement.

Sweetwater and Radloff middle schools will offer tutoring and transfers even though they made AYP goals last school year. The schools did not make AYP in the 2006-07 school year. The schools must make AYP two years in a row before transfers and tutoring services are dropped.

Parents who transfer their kids out of low performing schools will have to provide their own transportation. Gwinnett Schools will reimburse mileage costs for those who qualify.

Tutoring programs for those who stay at low performing schools have led to success on state standardized tests. This year, four Gwinnett Schools that offered tutoring moved off the Needs Improvement list: Summerour Middle, Shiloh Middle, Norcross High and Lilburn Middle, which also faced corrective action such as Meadowcreek will this year.

Lilburn Middle is a diverse school of about 1,200 students, where nearly 90 percent of its students qualified for free and reduced lunch last year.

"We are a bona fide successful school," said Lilburn Middle's new principal, Gene Taylor.

He credits the school's turnaround to the hard work of students and teachers and the leadership of past principals Cecilia Garcia and James Rayford. "We have spent a lot of time looking at data. ... We want to build on this momentum.''

PROGRESS FORUMS

State progress report information sessions will be held at all schools offering transfers and/or tutoring under the No Child Left Behind choice option this school year. The sessions also will be held at four schools designated by the district as accepting choice students in 2008-09. The sessions will be held at the following locations:

Berkmar High School, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Meadowcreek High School, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Richards Middle School, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Snellville Middle School, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

* Sweetwater Middle School, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

* Radloff Middle School, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

(* These schools made AYP in 2008, but must offer choice until they make AYP two consecutive years.)

The four schools designated as accepting choice students will hold forums Thursday at the following times:

Duluth Middle, 6 p.m.

Lilburn Middle, 5 p.m.

Dacula High, 7:15 p.m.

Duluth High, 7:15 p.m.

DECISIONS

Aug. 1: The first deadline for transfer requests. Approved transfers will go into effect the first week of school.

Aug. 8: Final deadline for transfers. Any requests made Aug. 2-8 will be approved with students being placed at their choice schools as early in the school year as possible.

MILEAGE COSTS

The district will pay parents of students transferring from Meadowcreek High and Richards Middle —- Title I schools that receive federal funding for poor students —- 58.5 cents per mile for the trip to and from school. Children who transfer out of Berkmar High and Snellville Middle will not be reimbursed for travel costs because they aren't Title I schools.

Source: Gwinnett County Public Schools