Lake Forest, High Point Recognized For Academic Improvement

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- Two Sandy Springs elementary schools have shown enough academic progress to be removed from the Georgia Department of Education's list of Priority and Focus Schools.

A total of five Fulton County elementary schools have been taken off the list: Asa G. Hilliard in Atlanta; C.H. Gullatt in Union City; High Point in Sandy Springs, Esther Jackson in Roswell; and Lake Forest in Sandy Springs.

As part of its Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver, the state identifies schools which exhibit the greatest need for additional support. Priority Schools are among the lowest five percent of Title I schools in terms based on a ranking of the three-year average Content Mastery category performance from the College and Career Ready Performance Index.

To be identified as a Focus School, the GDOE calculated the three-year average of all Title I schools’ College and Career Ready Performance Index Achievement Gap scores. Schools were then ranked, and the lowest 10 percent were identified as Focus Schools. Each of Fulton’s five identified schools has exhibited at least a 2.5 point increase in the 3-year average of Achievement Gap scored and is now removed from the list of Focus Schools.

“We are thrilled to see these five schools raise their student achievement and come off the list," said Superintendent Jeff Rose. "It shows how intensive, hard work can pay off. I commend the students, staff and families at these schools for their efforts.”

Schools on the GDOE’s Priority or Focus Schools list should not be confused with those identified by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement as chronically failing or underperforming, as each list uses different criteria and time periods for measurement, Fulton schools added.

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