The Georgia Department of Education released its College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), and Gilmer County’s elementary and middle schools rank above state averages while Gilmer High lags behind.
The CCRPI “is a comprehensive school improvement, accountability and communication platform for all educational stakeholders that will promote college and career readiness for all Georgia public school students,” according to the Georgia Department of Education.
The five components used to calculate CCRPI are content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness and a school’s system’s high school graduation rate. Multiple factors are used to measure each of the five components, and each is given a score of zero to 100. Component scores are weighted and used to calculate the final CCRPI score.
Gilmer County Schools’ chief academic officer Lottie Mitchell presented the CCRPI report at November’s board of education work session.
Gilmer’s CCRPI for the entire district is 79.5 and comprised of scores from elementary, middle and high school levels, which ranks above the state’s average district score of 75.9.
Gilmer Schools are members of the North Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency (NGRESA), and Gilmer is the second highest performing district behind Cherokee (83.4) and ahead of Whitfield (77.9), Pickens (73.8) and Murray (67.3).
“Part of our (school system’s) strategic plan is we want our district scores to be at or above the state level,” Mitchell said. “We have constantly gone up in the last few years to exceed the state average at a district level.”
Gilmer’s highest performing schools are at the elementary level and include Ellijay Elementary (86), Mountain View Elementary (76.1) and last year’s fifth grade at Gilmer Middle (81.8), which reported scores for the final time.
Gilmer’s elementary school score for the district is 84, and the state average sits at 77.1. Cherokee tops the NGRESA list at 86 and is followed by Whitfield (81.2), Pickens (66.3) and Murray (62.6).
Gilmer’s overall middle school score is 79.1 and comprised of Clear Creek Middle (76.7) and last year’s sixth grade at Gilmer Middle (82.5).
Once again, Gilmer is ahead of the state average at 72.1, and is third in the NGRESA behind Cherokee (80.4) and Whitfield (80.4) while still ahead of Pickens (75.7) and Murray (68.2).
The county’s lowest score of 73 came at Gilmer High. GHS showed a 2.6-point improvement from 2018, but is still four points below the state average. Pickens (83) and Cherokee (82.4) lead the way while Murray (73.4) and Whitfield (71.1) also fall below Georgia’s average of 77.
Board of education vice chairman Ronald Watkins asked, “What can be done to improve Gilmer High’s score?”
Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs responded, “I really think it’s a wave. We’ve seen our elementary coming up, then the wave has hit middle grades. The high school is definitely increasing (its score), but when students arrive without those foundational skills, it’s tough.”
Aside from Gilmer High’s aforementioned scores from 2019 and 2018, its CCRPI from 2012 through 2017 were 60.9, 73, 71.1, 68.1, 69.4 and 71.
“We’ve got a lot of things in place, and we know there are areas we need to improve upon,” GHS principal Carla Foley said. “We implemented a new literacy program last year, and we saw gains with those students and are doing it again this year with ninth and 10th graders.
“In math, we’ve mixed up some of our teachers who are teaching those Milestone courses to really make sure our students are getting the instruction they need to be successful.”
For an in-depth look at the methodology used to calculate CCRPI, visit Ga doe.org/CCRPI/Pages/de fault.aspx.