Of the schools in Georgia that failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law, these got the best grades on the state’s new measuring system, the college and career ready performance index:
1. Northwood Elementary (Fulton County), 96.6 of a possible 110
2. W.J. Cooper Elementary (Gwinnett County), 94.5
3. Haynes Bridge Middle (Fulton County), 94.2
4. Glynn Middle (Glynn County), 93.9
5. Cherokee Elementary (Sumter County), 93.7
Of the Georgia schools that made AYP, these had the worst CCRPI grades:
1. Crossroads Alternative School (Chattooga County), 32.1
2. Thomasville Heights Elementary (Atlanta Public Schools), 42.4
3. Riley Elementary (Bibb County), 43.8
4. Bethune Elementary (APS), 44.2
5. Williams Elementary (Bibb County), 44.9
-Wayne Washington and Jeff Ernsthausen
Definitions and descriptions for the CCRPI data:
Schools and districts are graded on a 100 point-scale and can receive up to 10 bonus points for a total possible score of 110.
Achievement points (based on results of the CRCT in grades 3-8 and end-of-course tests in grades 9-12, measures of whether students are ready for the next level and the 4-year and 5-year grad rates) — up to 70 points
Progress points (based on the percentage of a school’s students who show typical or high academic growth on state tests) — up to 15 points
Achievement gap points (schools can either receive points for closing or having small achievement gaps on state tests or for year-over-year gap change) — up to 15 points
Challenge points (schools can receive these if they have a significant number of economically disadvantaged students, English learners and students with disabilities meeting expectations or if they exceed the CCRPI state targets in college-ready programs) — up to 10 bonus points
Ritu Ahuja was a rookie principal at Northwood Elementary School in Roswell in 2011 when she got the news: Her school had failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind education law.
Nothing about Northwood, at the end of Wooten Road in a well-manicured section of Roswell, said failure. The school had plenty of parental involvement, and teachers worked hard. But the federal designation deemed it a failure.
Today, Northwood is riding high, with a 96.6 on the state’s new grading system for schools and districts, the college and career ready performance index, which replaces NCLB and its AYP designation.
Northwood’s experience highlights the differences between the systems.
Some education officials say schools like Northwood were unfairly branded under NCLB; they were never failures to begin with but were punished because of the struggles of a relatively small group of students. Others, however, believe new grading systems like CCRPI will take the heat off schools, and relegate certain groups — poor students, minority students, those with limited English skills and those with disabilities — to inattention and struggle.
“It worries us to death,” said Sandy Kress, the former George W. Bush administration member who helped write NCLB. “There is this tendency of bureaucrats to say, ‘Everything’s OK. We’re doing fine.’ It’s very, very worrisome.”
Under the old system, Northwood’s special education math scores weren’t up to snuff. And that, Ahuja said, was enough to keep the whole school from meeting AYP.
“People were crushed,” she said. “I had to hold several meetings with the community, parents, the PTA and tell them what happened. It was embarrassing.”
Most schools in Georgia that did not make AYP did not get stellar scores under the state’s new grading system. But there were hundreds that did, an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows.
Some 111 schools that failed to make AYP got a CCRPI grade of 80 or higher, and 18 of those schools scored at least 90.
There were outliers in the other direction, too: 226 schools that made AYP got CCRPI grades below a 70; 71 schools that made AYP got a CCRPI grade below 60, and 14 of those schools got a grade lower than 50.
Teachers, principals and other education officials say those outliers underscore the superiority of the new system as one that uses a variety of indicators to assess school performance and won’t brand a school a failure simply because a handful of students struggle on a standardized test.
That’s certainly how Julie Herrera, co-president of the PTA at Northwood and the parent of two children there, sees it.
“To say the school failed was not quite an accurate statement,” she said. “The new report card is more balanced. It gives a more complete picture.”
Donna Bishop, principal at W.J. Cooper Elementary School in Gwinnett County, agreed.
Cooper failed to make AYP but got a CCRPI grade of 94.5, a score Bishop said she was happy to share. “I emailed it to the entire staff so they could get it out to the community that great things are still happening at Cooper,” she said.
As Northwood students oohed and aahed over a snake brought to her son’s class — a visit parent Julie Brown helped arrange — Brown said she never believed her son’s school was a failure.
“We switched from a private school to this,” she said. “We’ve been very impressed. It seems to be going above and beyond what a school does.”
Ahuja said that’s because teachers and staff do give more than required: They arrive early to teach students struggling in specific subject areas; they swap students so teachers who are particularly good in some areas have a chance to offer their expertise to struggling students, and they try to connect what students learn to real life.
Science students interact with college researchers through videoconferencing. One hall of the elementary school, called “College Avenue,” is lined with college banners sent in by parents.
Ahuja said she and her staff are proud of Northwood’s CCRPI grade, but she said that’s not what brings them to school each day.
“We’re not doing this because of a measure,” she said. “We are personally invested. These are the children who will run the country. We better get it right.”
In creating CCRPI, the Georgia Department of Education took pains to allow schools to get points for doing well with subgroups of students in multiple areas, department spokesman Matt Cardoza said.
That increases the importance of making sure those students get what they need, he said.
“If you ignore a group, you’re going to be hurting your score,” Cardoza said. “The whole community will see what you did — or didn’t do.”
But Kress, the former Bush administration official, said the tough measurement system attached to NCLB was carefully crafted.
Recalling the political differences that were bridged to create the law in 2001, Kress said people with opposing views came together on a fundamental point.
“What united them was the idea of truly not leaving any child behind,” he said. “We can not consider the enterprise a success until subgroups are performing well.”
Kress said he feels good about the progress subgroup students have made in recent years.
“There’s been progress because there’s been pressure,” he said.
Laura Kaloi, public policy director for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, said she’s worried states will set up feel-good measurement systems that mask inattention to students with disabilities. High marks won’t necessarily mean those students are getting what they need, Kaloi said, emphasizing that she was speaking in general terms because she’s not familiar with Georgia’s new system.
“It’s often just a change in how the measurement is calculated,” she said.
The federal government granted Georgia’s request for a waiver from NCLB’s performance measures in 2012. Georgia promised to created its own measurement system, CCRPI, which gives schools and districts a grade that generally ranges from zero to 100, with 10 bonus points available.
Up to 70 points are awarded based on student achievement. Another 15 points are available if students make academic progress, and schools can get 15 more if they are successful in closing the gaps in performance between different groups of students.
The performance of students in subgroups can earn a school points in each of those areas. For example, a school’s CCRPI grade is boosted if, for more than 80 percent of the school day, students with disabilities are taught in classes that were not set up for those with disabilities.
Kress said he remains worried that the grading systems that replace NCLB won’t keep the heat on schools.
“We’re losing it,” he said. “We’re losing the pressure. We’re losing the tension.”
Annie Jo Perry, who has taught at Northwood for the nine years she’s been a teacher, said that won’t happen at her school. Northwood’s culture wouldn’t allow for it, she said.
“Every day, we’re thinking, ‘What are we going to do today to bring the kids up?’ ” she said. “There’s never a point where we can stop and be satisfied. We’re always working.”
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