Area schools honored by state agencies

The Office of Student Achievement and the Georgia Department of Education have honored two Barrow County schools for improvement and achievement during the 2009-2010 school year.

The schools were recognized under Georgia’s Single Statewide Accountability System (SSAS), which awards schools based on their performance on state curriculum exams and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status. Overall, 345 schools in the state were honored.

The schools are awarded on four levels — platinum, gold, silver and bronze — in two categories — greatest gains and highest performance.

Those schools making greatest gains showed the greatest improvement in scores on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) or the Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT).

Winder-Barrow Middle School and Russell Middle School were honored in the greatest gain category. WBMS received a bronze award, while RMS received a silver award.

The awards are being announced as part of the release of the state’s Annual K-12 Public Schools Report Card.

The report card, which features the SSAS awards, was developed by the Office of Student Achievement and provides bottom-line data for Georgia’s preschools, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, technical colleges, and educator licensing and accreditation.

It includes school, system, and state level reports organized into seven major sections: Accountability, Georgia tests, national tests, indicators, student and school demographics, personnel and fiscal, and comparisons.

The Office of Student Achievement provides accountability reporting for all of Georgia’s education system from preschool through college to drive improvement in student achievement and school completion. For more information, visit www.gaosa. org.