Schools in Forsyth County that did not meet the academic goals in 2009-2010
Big Creek Elementary
Chattahoochee Elementary
Daves Creek Elementary
Johns Creek Elementary
Mashburn Elementary
Matt Elementary
Midway Elementary
Sawnee Elementary
Settles Bridge Elementary
Sharon Elementary
Shiloh Point Elementary
Vickery Creek Elementary
Otwell Middle School
Schools in Forsyth County that did not meet the academic goals in 2010-2011
Johns Creek Elementary
Matt Elementary
Shiloh Point Elementary
Little Mill Middle School
Forsyth Central High School
North Forsyth High School
South Forsyth High School
West Forsyth High School
Schools in Forsyth County that did not meet the academic goals in both 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
Johns Creek Elementary
Matt Elementary
Shiloh Point Elementary
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Gwinnett schools that did not meet the achievement goals for 2009-2010
Patrick Elementary School
Central Gwinnett High School
Duluth High School
Grayson High School
Mason Elementary School
Meadowcreek High School
Mill Creek High School
North Gwinnett High
Gwinnett schools that did not meet achievement goals 2010-2011
Meadowcreek Elementary
Rock Springs Elementary
Louise Radloff Middle School
Summerour Middle School
Berkmar High School
Brookwood High School
Central Gwinnett High School
Collins Hill High School
Dacula High School
Duluth High School
Grayson High School
Meadowcreek High School
Mill Creek High School
Norcross High School
North Gwinnett High School
Parkview High School
Peachtree Ridge High School
Shiloh High School
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Schools in Gwinnett that failed to meet the achievement goals in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
Central Gwinnett High School
Duluth High School
Grayson High School
Meadowcreek High School
Mill Creek High School
North Gwinnett High School
Schools in Gwinnett and Forsyth counties may not have met their latest achievement goals — and at least for now, that won’t matter.
That’s because on the final day of the recent General Assembly, lawmakers changed — and softened — state expectations for them.
Lawmakers said the expectations were wrong from the get-go and overdue for changing. Others questioned making the change just before release of a report expected to show schools in both districts failing to meet their Year 3 goals and due to face serious sanctions.
In 2009, both school districts started down a path of education reform that promised them freedom from state mandates such as class size limits for five years. In exchange, they were to deliver higher test scores for three straight years.
Year 3 results are due out soon, possibly in June, and officials in Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, said they believe it’s unlikely that any of their high schools will meet that year’s achievement goals. The way their contract with the state is written, that would mean those schools couldn’t make the three-years-in-a row requirement and would be subject to sanctions that include being turned into a charter school or, possibly, put under the control of a nearby successful school district.
Lawmakers said a provision of House Bill 283 fixes an error in the original legislation that local educators have sought for years to correct. It says the districts fill their end of the contract by meeting their achievement goals in any three of the five years.
“Yes, it does mean that some schools won’t get in trouble that were going to get in trouble,” said Rep. Mike Dudgeon, a Republican from Johns Creek. “But this is just common sense. Why would I want to give you a five-year contract and in Year 3 say you’re done because you haven’t got your goals completely met?”
Jennifer Falk, a parent activist and 2012 Gwinnett school board candidate, said parents should be in an uproar.
“IE2 was purported to give parents more power if a school did not meet their academic goals. And now they’ve changed the rules to make sure that will never happen,” said Falk, referring to the school-reform model pushed by former Gov. Sonny Perdue called Investing in Educational Excellence but more frequently referred to by the acronym IE2 (said as “I-E-squared”).
“Let’s not be mistaken — the existing goals in IE2 are so low you could trip over them,” said Falk, an IE2 critic.
Twenty Gwinnett schools and 18 Forsyth schools didn’t meet the achievement goals in one of the first two years.
Steve Flynt, Gwinnett’s associate superintendent for school leadership and operations, said the dismal forecasts for high schools in Year 3 is due to the phasing-out of the high school graduation test, which has been the districts’ way of showing year-to-year improved student achievement.
But it’s hard to show improvement when far fewer students are taking the graduation test and most who are have failed it before and are trying again, he said.
Jeffrey Grove, a researcher with the non-partisan Southern Regional Education Board, said it is in the state’s interest to give these districts “elbow room.”
“I can’t necessarily condemn them for doing it because they’re still focused on the outcome [improved student achievement,” Grove said. “We’ll see what happens next year.”
L.C. “Buster” Evans, superintendent of Forsyth County Schools, said he is grateful that legislators eliminated the need for three years of consecutive improvement.
“This was actually something that had been a discussion item ever since the original legislation was passed,” Evans said.
He said it gives schools incentive to continue to improve even if they missed their achievement goals one year.
“In reality, the drastic reductions in funding, curriculum changes and accountability model changes really made this make more sense,” Evans said.
Evans and J. Alvin Wilbanks, CEO and superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools, both were supporting another bill this session that would have effectively killed IE2 and established new methods for school districts to obtain flexibility from state rules, in exchange for a commitment to higher student achievement.
That bill stalled in the Senate, but House Education Committee chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, said it will be pursued again next year.
“IE2 is gone. It’s gone,” Coleman said.
Lawmakers said several years ago that by 2015, all school districts must become either charter school systems, IE2 systems or say they are content with the status quo.
Gwinnett and Forsyth signed onto IE2 in 2009. One other school district, Rabun County in North Georgia, later joined them.
Nearly 20 school systems, including Fulton County, have become charter districts, which, like IE2 districts, receive flexibility in exchange for improved student achievement.
The major difference in charter and IE2 systems is said to be that in charters, day-to-day operations are more closely managed at the school level as opposed to at the central office.
