Initial AYP report for Griffin-Spalding shows 11 schools met goals

When the Georgia Department of Education released the official Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports Monday,  it showed 11 of 17 Griffin-Spalding County schools made AYP, which is one more school than the initial status last year.  

The schools that have made AYP on this initial report are Anne Street Elementary, Beaverbrook Elementary, Crescent Elementary, Futral Road Elementary, Jackson Road Elementary, Jordan Hill Elementary, Moore Elementary, Moreland Road Elementary, Orrs Elementary, Kennedy Road Middle and Rehoboth Street Middle School.  

Denise Burrell, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction said, “Because of CRCT retest scores or appeals, we anticipate several more schools making AYP when results for the second round are released.” 

 “The report shows our high school graduation rate increased from 68.2% to 68.6%, which is small increase,” Burrell said. “An increase means more students are graduating on time.” 

She continued, “This year’s results show our system is still in Needs Improvement. We will continue to implement our strategic plan which includes strategies for increasing test scores, closing the achievement gap between subgroups, and increasing progression rates.” 

Plan for improvement

Part of the school system’s plan to improve is to specifically target high impact students and those students who are included in more than two AYP categories.  In addition, plans call for raising graduation rates by having Individual Graduation Plans for students. 

Mrs. Burrell said, “There are strategies in place that are working that will continue such as credit recovery programs and remediation for the high school graduation test.  

 “Our intention is to improve reading scores for all students through the continued use of these strategies and programs:

·        Guided Reading, Imagination Station, use of Lexile scores,
Saxon Phonics, System 44, Read 180, and Study Island

·        Required instructional minutes for Reading/English language arts, math and Humanities in elementary schools

·        Read 180, System 44, and Expert 21 at all middle schools

·        Read 180 at Griffin High School, Spalding High School, Griffin-Spalding Alternative School, and A. Z. Kelsey Academy. 

“We plan to use these programs and strategies to improve math scores:

·        ALEKS in elementary, middle, and high schools

·        Continue new Advanced Content units in 8^th grade math

·        Use flexible grouping for students all year

·        Give benchmark assessments in grades 3 – 8 and high school core content classes

·        Have Individual Action Plans for identified students

AYP is part of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act requirements.  AYP is determined in three areas:  test participation, academic performance, and second indicator.  The test participation and academic performance rates are calculated for grades 3-8 on the English/language arts and math portions of the CRCT and for 11^th grade students on the English/language arts and math portions of the GHSGT.