Cobb’s Walton High is tops among schools in graduation test

Schools in Cobb and Fulton counties were among the metro area’s top 10 performers on this year’s high school graduation tests.

Scoring highest among metro schools with at least 50 test-takers was Cobb’s Walton High School, with a 98.4 percent passing rate on the Georgia High School Graduation Tests.

The lowest passing rate in the metro area, 24.2 percent, was at Atlanta’s Crim High School.

Other top schools in the state include Savannah Arts Academy in Chatham County and Davidson Fine Arts in Richmond County. Both schools had 100 percent passing rates on all graduation tests with more than 50 students taking all the tests.

Cobb County landed three schools in the state top 10. Cherokee County had two in the top 10. DeKalb College of the Arts was ninth.

Students in Georgia are required to pass all four tests, in mathematics, science, English language arts and social studies, to graduate.

Statewide data, showing improved passing rates on all four tests this year, was released by the Georgia Department of Education last month. School-by-school figures came out Monday.

Students have multiple chances to take the test; if they still fail, they can appeal to the state Board of Education for a waiver.

Other top scorers, behind Walton High, were: two other Cobb County schools, Pope High and Lassiter High; Cherokee County’s Etowah High School and Woodstock High; DeKalb School of the Arts; Fulton’s Northview High, Chattahoochee High School and Alpharetta High; and Gwinnett County’s Brookwood High.

Forsyth Academy, a non-traditional school for at-risk students in Cumming, had a 100 percent passing rate, the highest for any school in metro Atlanta. It had only 14 students taking the test. Principal Brad Smith attributed the success, in part, to preparations that go on all year, but are intensive in the six weeks before the test.