Georgia rates classroom climate above average in most schools

5-star — excellent

4-star — above average

3-star — average

2-star — below satisfactory

1-star — unsatisfactory

Here are some facts from the state’s report:

Fifteen percent of schools received a below satisfactory or unsatisfactory rating.

About 70 percent of schools received a 3-star or 4-star rating.

The average score on the College and Career Ready Performance Index academic report card for a 5-star school was 78.2. The average CCRPI score for a one-star school was 58.6.

Twenty-three of the 67 schools that received a one-star rating are on a list of schools the state would be empowered to take over under a proposal by Gov. Nathan Deal.

You can see how the "climate" in your child's school, other schools in your district or any school in Georgia was rated by using the searchable database the AJC has compiled for our subscribers. It's on myajc.com.

Nearly one in six Georgia public schools have some work to do when it comes to creating a safe classroom environment, where students have little risk of being harmed or bullied by staff, intruders or their classmates.

Fifteen percent of schools were rated unsatisfactory or below satisfactory in the state Department of Education’s first school climate ratings. The ratings are to gauge conditions that make teaching more difficult, and are based on factors such as the number of students suspended or expelled, student surveys on drug use, bullying, and chronic absenteeism. The goal is to help the state and school districts determine what low-scoring schools need to do to create a better classroom environment.

Most schools got average or above average ratings.

Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods, who took office in January, said he was not dismayed by the number of schools with low ratings. “Relatively speaking, it’s a small percentage of schools in the state, so we’re pleased that the large majority of our schools received a 3, 4, or 5,” Woods said.

Atlanta’s school system had nine schools with unsatisfactory ratings, more than any Georgia school district. DeKalb County, along with three other districts, had eight schools with unsatisfactory ratings. DeKalb, though, had 27 schools with excellent ratings, more than any other Georgia district.

State lawmakers passed legislation in 2012 ordering a rating system, and Georgia Education Department officials worked with a committee of school superintendents and Georgia State University to create it. State officials said the survey results, discipline data and attendance records were weighed similarly to give each school one overall rating, from five stars for excellent to one star for unsatisfactory.

The results appeared to confirm the link between classroom atmosphere and academics. In general, schools with higher scores on the state’s College and Career Ready Performance Index report card had better climate ratings than those with lower scores. Schools with excellent ratings had an average CCRPI score nearly 20 points higher than those with unsatisfactory ratings. Woods attributed the better CCRPI scores to classrooms where students felt safe.

“We know through lots of research that positive school climates tend to produce better academic outcomes, much like positive work environments usually produce better outcomes for the business,” Woods said.

State education officials said they will push schools that received low ratings to join a program used in about 30 Georgia school districts that encourages good classroom behavior. The average climate rating in districts using the program, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support,was about the same as the statewide average, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of the data found.

Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said he hopes the state will help schools with low ratings and not “blame and shame” them, a frequent criticism of the federal No Child Left Behind policy.

“Those sound like good starting points,” Callahan said of some of the state’s plans to help schools with low star ratings. “But both the (Georgia Department of Education) and school districts have been decimated by budget cuts in recent years. Is there staff capacity to take the ball and run with it?”

Twenty-three of the 67 schools with unsatisfactory ratings are also on a list of schools the state would be empowered to take over under a proposal by Gov. Nathan Deal. His plan would give the state the authority to shutter failing schools, run them directly or convert them to charters. The proposal would create an “opportunity school district” with its own superintendent and oversight authority.

DeKalb school spokesman Quinn Hudson defended some of the district’s schools that received low ratings, such as Chapel Hill Elementary, near I-285 and Flat Shoals Parkway. He said the school’s PTA membership has risen from less than 30 parents to about 100 in the past year. He noted the school has a new principal and its CCRPI score increased by 19 points during the last school year.

“They’ve made a lot of improvement,” Hudson said.

The report had some anomalies.

A handful of schools had high scores for academics and other factors on the CCRPI but one-star school climate ratings. Conversely, more than a dozen schools with CCRPI scores near the bottom statewide received 5-star school climate ratings.

“For the school with a 1-star and a 75, they may see their CCRPI begin to decline with that kind of climate,” state officials said in an email. “For the school with a 5-star and a low CCRPI, they may see their CCRPI begin to rise because of a positive climate. Historical data and trends will help to answer this question better.”