Another Happy Couple just purchased a home in Westchester Subdivision in sought after East Cobb.

Here is what they said:

We had the good luck to find Jodi as our agent all the way from Texas.  My husband was being transferred to Atlanta and we really did not know much about the area.  We told Jodi what we were looking for in a house and Jodi went one step further to show us houses in neighborhoods and school districts we would find desirable.  We started off with the MLS searches from Texas and Jodi helped to preview homes and neighborhoods for us that we thought we might be interested in.  In the end, she helped us find a home in a good subdivision and excellent school district.  Jodi worked hard to protect us in our purchase negotiations and represent us while we were in another state.  I don’t know that other agents would have worked as hard as she did for us.  I would not hesitate to use Jodi again or recommend her to anyone for the purchase of a home.

The next one could be YOU!!!

The Cobb County Board of Education approved a balanced calendar for the 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years during its Nov. 11, 2009 meeting. Each school year will begin the first week of August and end the Friday prior to Memorial Day in May. The 180-day balanced calendar includes one-week mid-term breaks for students and teachers in September and February and a full week of Thanksgiving holidays. The first semester of each school year will conclude before the winter holidays in December.

In September 2009, the Board requested that Superintendent Fred Sanderson develop different calendar options for the Board to review. Four options were presented during the October 14 work session with varying start dates and breaks. These options were posted for review on the District Web site and all school Web sites, along with contact information for the seven Board members. The District used its automated calling system to notify 63,000 student households of the calendar options, and also included calendar information in its regular Board of Education e-mail newsletter, which reaches more than 24,000 community members. More than 8,400 Cobb County teachers and employees responded to a District survey asking which survey option they preferred. More than 50 percent voted in favor of the balanced calendar option.

The Cobb County School District will monitor the impact of a balanced calendar on key operational areas, including student achievement, attendance, and discipline, as well as teacher morale and retention. Evidence and data from some districts that have adopted balanced calendars appear to support at least some correlation between the calendar change and improvements in these areas. The District also will track potential impacts on maintenance and utility costs.

Conference weeks and any early release days for the approved calendars will be determined at a later date.

2010-2011 School Year Calendars

• 2010-11 School Year at a Glance Calendar

2011-2012 School Year Calendars

• 2011-12 School Year at a Glance Calendar

2012-2013 School Year Calendars

• 2012-13 School Year at a Glance Calendar

  Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, East Cobb Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Consultants.  Helping you find Homes in East Cobb, Homes in Marietta, Homes in Roswell and Homes in Alpharetta.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com

Your East Cobb Realtor would like to share this important information with YOU!

Ninety-four percent of Cobb County 11th graders met or exceeded standards on the 2009 Georgia High School Writing Test. Cobb students’ average scale score of 224 remains higher than average scale scores for metropolitan Atlanta and Georgia. The scale used to measure achievement ranges from 100 to 350, with a score of 200 as “meets expectations,” and 250 as “exceeds expectations.” Administered in September to 7,496 students, the writing test requires students to write a persuasive paper on an assigned topic in a limited time window. The assessment is the part of the Georgia High School Graduation Test, a requirement for all students pursuing a high school diploma.

Cobb’s population of Students with Disabilities (SWD) and English Language Learners (ELL) also performed well on the writing test. The percentage of Cobb’s Students with Disabilities meeting or exceeding expectations was 75 percent, compared to just 62 percent of their peers statewide (see Table III). Sixty-nine percent of ELL students tested in the district met or exceeded expectations, compared to sixty-six percent across the state.

Individual schools across the district fared well on the writing test. At 13 of the district’s 17 high schools, 90 percent or more of the students met or exceeded expectations. Seven schools – Allatoona, Harrison, Hillgrove, Kell, Lassiter, Pope and Walton - led all others with 95 percent or more of students scoring at or above expectations, with Lassiter and Pope students topping the district at 98 percent meeting or exceeding expectations.

The Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) domains, or broad themes, covered by the writing test include Ideas, Organization, Style, and Convention. The Ideas domain measures the degree to which the writer establishes a controlling idea and elaborates the main points with examples, illustrations, facts or details. In the Organization domain, students are assessed on their ability to arrange ideas in a clear order consistent with the persuasive genre. Style points are awarded based on the writer’s ability to control language and engage the reader. The Conventions domain measures the degree to which the writer demonstrates control of sentence formation, usage, and mechanics. Test scores are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest. In each domain, Cobb 11th graders scored higher than their peers across the state. Three of the high schools across the district had domain scores that were consistently higher than averages for both the district, metro area and state.

Superintendent Fred Sanderson said, “Writing is an essential skill for high school and beyond. We are pleased that these scores reflect the competitive ability of our students, especially for our special populations.”

In March 2010, Cobb 11th graders will be assessed on the language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science portions of the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT).

For more information, click here.

Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, East Cobb Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Consultants.  Helping you find Homes in East Cobb, Homes in Marietta, Homes in Roswell and Homes in Alpharetta.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com

East Cobb Schools-Top in the Nation According to Newsweek Magazine

For those of us who already live in the East Cobb section of Marietta, Georgia, this probably does not come as a big surprise. We have known for a long time that East Cobb has the one of the highest qualities of education for our children. It’s why we moved here. It’s why we searched and searched for the right home here. It’s why we love it here…among many many other reasons.

But, for those of you who are thinking about moving to East Cobb, let me give you three reasons to go ahead and make that move:

Walton High School

Lassiter High School

Pope High School

These three schools were recognized by Newsweek Magazine as America’s Top Public High Schools.

Walton came in at #90 out of 1500 schools in the United States ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way. (If you have questions about the list, please contact challenge@washpost.com).

Lassiter came in next at #364 and Pope came in at #1072. Not bad for a state that as a whole is lagging a little on the quality of education it offers. This is exactly why East Cobb is still a sought after area of North Metro Atlanta.

You get a “private school” education at a public school price.

Not only that, East Cobb has a small town sort of vibe to it. Everything is close by. Dining, shopping, churches, entertainment. You don’t have to go far from home to enjoy the quality of life that East Cobb offers. So, for that reason, you see folks you know nearly everywhere you go. Hence, giving you that small town feel, within minutes of the big city.

Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, East Cobb Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Consultants. Helping you find Homes in East Cobb, Homes in Marietta, Homes in Roswell and Homes in Alpharetta. CELL: 678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cobb ACT Scores Rise In All Subjects
Fifth consecutive year of improvement; top state & national averages

For the fifth consecutive year Cobb County’s college-bound seniors have improved the school district’s composite score on the ACT college-preparation test. Recently released scores show Cobb students increased their average score in every subject area of the test. Cobb students also topped state and national averages in all four subject areas, as well as in the composite average, just as they did in 2008, and even widened the margin of performance in 2009.

ACT scores for the class of 2009 indicate that Cobb graduates are well prepared for success in their first year of college. The 2009 seniors posted an average composite score of 22.1 (out of a possible 36), slightly higher than last year’s score of 22.0. The composite average was 1.5 points higher than the state average, and 1.0 points higher than the national average. Across the subject areas tested, Cobb students topped the national averages in English (+1.2), Math (+1.2), Reading (+1.1), and Science Reasoning (+0.6). The ACT assessment measures high school students’ overall educational development and their readiness for the challenge of core college classes. Cobb seniors’ composite average has topped the state and national average for 13 consecutive years.

“The ACT is valued more and more in college admissions, and these results show colleges and universities that Cobb County students are prepared for the rigors of college course work,” said Superintendent Fred Sanderson. “I’m very proud of the fact that we continue to show improvement, and our students are widening the gap between Cobb’s average and the national average in every subject.”

Students taking more rigorous classes in science or math tended to have higher ACT scores, promoting the value of enrollment in more advanced classes at the high school level. For example, Cobb students who participated in a high school math course sequence that included Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus, had scores more than eight points higher than students with less than three years of math coursework. Similarly, students taking advanced science classes that included General Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics scored almost four points higher than those taking less than three years of science.

Results reflect the performance of 2,748 Cobb high school seniors (38 percent of all graduating seniors). Scores are for 2008-2009 seniors who took the ACT voluntarily in either their sophomore, junior or senior year of high school.

Scores for individual Cobb high schools are available on the District Web site.

Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, Atlanta Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Consultants in Roswell, Georgia.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL:  jodismith@kw.com

Your Atlanta Real Estate Agent would like to share this important information with YOU!

Dear Parents:

Most likely you have heard news reports about the influenza A H1N1 virus (H1N1 flu), also known as “Swine Flu” making its way into the United States. Confirmed cases continue to grow throughout the country and have been found in many summer schools and camps across the nation.

We want to share some basic information with you about H1N1 flu, how the Cobb County School District is preparing and responding and what you can do to protect your family’s health.

The most up-to-date information about H1N1 flu is available on the Web site for the Centers for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/. Locally, the District works closely with Cobb & Douglas Public Health, a division of the sate public health department. CDPH provides locally relevant information online at http://cobbanddouglaspublichealth.org/News/swineflu.php.

What is H1N1 flu?
H1N1 flu (Swine Flu) is a respiratory illness that is caused by a Type A influenza virus. H1N1 is a new strain of flu that is a mix of swine, human and bird viruses. You cannot get H1N1 flu from eating pork or pork products.

What are the signs and symptoms of H1N1 flu?
The signs and symptoms of H1N1 flu are similar to regular flu. Symptoms appear quickly, likely including dry cough, fever (sometimes over 102 degrees), stuffy nose, chills, extreme tiredness and body aches. Some people have reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea with H1N1 flu, which are not common symptoms of more common influenza.

What should I do if my child has signs or symptoms of influenza?
If your child gets a fever or flu-like symptoms, it is important that he/she stays home, rests and drinks plenty of fluids. Please do not give give children fever-reducing medication and send them to school. The medication wears off and fevers and aches return. Never give aspirin to children or teens that have fever and/or flu-like symptoms because this can cause a rare, serious illness called Reye syndrome. Thorough hand washing with soap and water is the best prevention, in addition to the flu vaccine.

What are Cobb County Schools doing to prevent the spread of influenza?
The District is encouraging staff and students to practice good hygiene, including proper hand washing techniques. We encourage students to use hand sanitizer with 60 percent alcohol content in situations where hand washing facilities are not immediately available. The CDC also provides information on how to get immunization against influenza and H1N1 flu.

The Cobb County School District will continue to make families aware of the impact of influenza on our school environments. Awareness and prevention are the best means of helping our community stay healthy.

Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, Atlanta Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Consultants in Roswell, Georgia.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL:  jodismith@kw.com 

CCSD Transportation Department

NEWEST INFORMATION!!!

All CCSD Bus Routes Finalized
All changes to Cobb County Shcool District bus routes and stops have been completed, based on input received from parents. The updated routes are available for viewing on our WebQuery system by clicking here. These stops will be in place for the first day of school Monday, August 10th.

Ongoing evaluation of all routes and pickup points will continue by Transportation staff. Parents with questions or concerns should contact Transportation at 678-594-8000.

Thank you for your patience and support throughout this process.

Please call 678-594-8000 for assistance with bus routes.
Because the school bus is an extension of the classroom, we are an integral part of the education of all students within our school district. Safety is high priority and a group effort. Students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and drivers are all assigned responsibility. We value each and every student and will emphasize that by treating each student with dignity and respect. We are committed to providing the safest, consistent, reliable transportation possible and will strive to continually upgrade our service to students and parents as it becomes possible.

Bus Route Information
The CCSD Bus Route WebQuery System helps you determine the schools a student is eligible to attend and the available bus stops. WebQuery also provides a helpful street map. Click here to enter the WebQuery System.

Bus Route Questions & Answers
Information for parents regarding changes to bus routes and pickup points

What is happening?
The school district is consolidating many of its bus stops in an effort to reduce transportation costs. For instance, subdivisions that previously had 15-20 stops may now have just two or three pickup points where students will gather and board the bus as a group. The district currently has more than 50,000 bus stops countywide. This plan would reduce those stops by about 20 percent.

Why?
The school district is in the midst of a financial crisis due to cuts in state funding. The recently approved Fiscal Year 2010 budget addressed a $58 million deficit with substantial cuts across all departments, including Transportation. Just this week the Governor announced reductions in funding that will result in an additional $10 million cut for Cobb County schools. The plan to consolidate bus stops will save approximately $1 million.

Are there any alternatives for substantial cost savings in Transportation?
One idea given consideration was to expand the current pickup radius to one mile (currently .5 mile) for elementary students, and to 1.5 miles (currently one mile) for middle and high school students.  The state requires districts to provide transportation only to students who live outside a 1.5 mile-radius of their school. Cobb has been well below that standard for years.  Expanding the pickup radius would have saved the district more money, but would have eliminated bus service to thousands of students. Therefore an alternative plan was developed.

How far will students have to walk to get to the new bus stops?
In most cases, no more than one half mile.

Will students be safe?
Yes, the safety of students is the district’s highest priority and was the top consideration in developing the plan to consolidate bus stops. Every effort has been made to ensure safe walking routes to bus stops. Students will not be required to cross busy two- and four-lane roads. And by gathering in groups at bus stops, students will be in a safer environment than they would waiting alone. Parental assistance and supervision with walking routes and bus stops, as always, will be an important part of ensuring safe transportation to and from school. Parents with legitimate safety concerns regarding the new stops may contact the Transportation Department at 678-594-8000.

Are there other benefits of consolidating bus stops?
Yes, with greatly improved efficiency in the routes of nearly 1,000 buses on the road each morning and afternoon, traffic flow throughout the county will improve. Additionally, the district anticipates fewer bus accidents with more than 1,400 back-ups and turnarounds eliminated from routes.

Call or Email me today for all of our Real Estate needs.  Jodi Smith, Atlanta Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Consultants in beautiful Roswell, Georgia.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com

http://www.cobbk12.org/generalinfo/calendars/2009-10/2009-10SchoolYearCalendar.pdf

Call or Email me today for all of your Real Estate needs! Jodi Smith, Atlanta Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Consultants in Roswell, Georgia.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL:  jodismith@kw.com

HB 251 is an amendment to Georgia law that provides parents an option to transfer their child into another public school within the same district, as long as there is available classroom space. Each school district in Georgia is tasked with defining available classroom space. The law does not apply to charter schools, magnet programs or newly opened schools (for four years from the school’s opening date). Students eligible for transfer under No Child Left Behind (see left) are required to receive first priority for available seats at schools in the district that are not in ‘Needs Improvement’ status. The Cobb County School District’s plan for compliance with HB 251 was created using the framework provided by the Georgia Department of Education. The Cobb schools eligible for school choice transfers have been deemed to have adequate permanent classroom space to accommodate additional students. The school district will not provide transportation for students who elect to transfer under HB 251. Transportation will be the responsibility of the parents.

Click here for specific information about the Georgia School Choice option for the 2009-2010 school year.

For your Atlanta Real Estate needs, feel free to call or email me anytime!  Jodi Smith, Atlanta Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Consultants.  CELL:  678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com.

Your Atlanta Real Estate Agent want to share this valuable information with YOU!!!

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.

Call or Email me, Jodi Smith, Your Atlanta Real Estate Agent, for all of your Real Estate needs.  CELL: 678-763-6025 or EMAIL: jodismith@kw.com