Cobb County School District

Cobb Schools Show Gains on AYP

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July 15, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Cobb Schools Show Gains on AYP More Schools Make Adequate Progress; Graduation Rate Up To 86 Percent Data released Tuesday by the state Department of Education show 102 of Cobb County’s 114 schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2009, up from 95 of 111 schools in 2008. With 90 percent of Cobb County schools hitting the target, the district easily outperformed statewide results that show just 79 percent of Georgia schools made AYP.

The number of Cobb County schools making AYP is likely to increase once summer school retests are calculated. In July 2008, 21 Cobb schools failed to make AYP, but that number decreased to 16 following summer school retests. Two of the 12 Cobb County schools not making AYP in 2009, Imagine International Academy of Mableton and Devereux Center, are not managed by the Cobb County School District, but the state requires their results be included with Cobb’s overall results.

One school, Floyd Middle School in Mableton, made Adequate Yearly Progress for the second consecutive year and was removed from the state Needs Improvement list. Three other middle schools, Cooper, Griffin and Tapp, also made AYP and will be removed from the Needs Improvement list if they can repeat that performance in 2010. The data released Tuesday show Campbell and Lindley middle schools, along with Compton Elementary School, did not make AYP. However, their results were so close that summer school retests could reverse their AYP status and result in removal from Needs Improvement. Retest results should be available in September.

“These results are a clear indicator of the District’s focus on student achievement,” said Superintendent Fred Sanderson. “We are heading in the right direction, and that’s evident in the number of schools making AYP, our graduation rate, and the strong performance of our subgroups.”

Cobb continues to demonstrate a strong graduation rate. The school district’s overall graduation rate in 2009 is 85.5 percent, an increase of 1.3 percent over 2008. That compares to a statewide rate of just 77.8 percent. Perhaps most impressively, the graduation rate among Hispanic students, a key “subgroup” for state performance targets, has increased from 55.6 percent in 2006 to 70.1 percent in 2009.

The graduation rate is just one area where subgroups have shown steady gains. English Language Learners, another subgroup category, improved their math performance by 10.5 percent at the elementary/middle school level, and by 8.4 percent at the high school level. ELL students also showed big gains in English Language Arts with a 5.7 percent increase at the elementary/middle level and 7.0 percent increase at the high school level. Students With Disabilities, another subgroup, increased their math performance 2.3 percent at the elementary/middle school level, and 11.1 percent at the high school level.

District-wide, more than 93 percent of all Cobb students met or exceeded standards in English Language Arts, and 85 percent of students met or exceeded standards in math. Even more encouraging is that an increasing number of students performed in the highest “Exceeds” category of each subject area.

Cobb County did not make AYP as a district despite having 90 percent of its component schools reach the target. Even with the gains observed in multiple subgroups, the overall performance of Black and Economically Disadvantaged high school students did not meet the standard in math, and Students With Disabilities did not meet the standard in English Language Arts at the high school level. Also, despite the substantial gains in graduation rates, Students With Disabilities and English Language Learners did not meet the graduation rate standard that increased to 75 percent this year.

In 2008 the District implemented a plan to target specific subgroups of students. The 2009 AYP data will be analyzed over the coming weeks to determine the plan’s impact, but individual school results seem to suggest progress. The factors affecting Cobb’s district status are typical of large metro Atlanta school districts and a comparison group of similar school districts across the nation. Overall, Cobb was measured in 80 different AYP indicators and met the standard in 75, or 94 percent.

Additional information, including AYP status for individual schools, is available on the District Web site.

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