The schools of the Greene County School System (GCSS) improved in nearly every area on the College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI), posting both higher achievement gains and showing growth among subgroups of students. The CCRPI was released Dec. 14 by the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE), showing individual school and system performance, as well as providing a basis for comparison to the state as a whole.
Greene County Primary School, Carson Middle School, and Greene County High School all showed large gains in achievement in major content areas such as Language Arts and Math. The primary school’s overall score increased to 74.5 points, its highest ever and nearly 10 points higher than the state average (64.7). CMS and GCHS also made significant gains, in some cases showing increases of as much as eight points.
“The improvements we are seeing show steady gains year after year, which means that we can sustain the momentum,” GCSS Superintendent Dr. Chris Houston said.
Greene County High School also outpaced the state in graduation rate. For 2023, GCHS had a graduation rate of 86 percent, one percentage point higher than the state average of 84.9 percent.
In addition, the CCRPI measures how groups of students at each school performed relative to the previous year. Called “Closing Gaps,” this measure looks at the performance of students with disabilities, students affected by poverty, and English Learner students, among others. GCPS and GCHS both had perfect scores of 100 in this area, as did CMS’s middle school program. The CMS elementary program posted a score of 89.5. These scores are between 30 and 50 points higher than state averages.
“The main lesson with Closing Gaps is that we want all children to perform well,” GCSS Director of Teaching and Learning Crystal Parten said. “This part of the CCRPI shows us that our students are all achieving and growing – we teach every student equally well.”
Another area of measure is “Progress,” which determines how much growth students demonstrate in English Language Arts and Mathematics and how well English learners are progressing toward English language proficiency compared to academically similar peers. Again, GCPS led the way for GCSS with a score of 96.3, more than 10 points higher than the 85.8 state average.
Another component measured by the state of Georgia is “Readiness,” which measures attendance, literacy, and preparation for college and career. Greene County Primary’s Readiness score was 85.6, the highest in the district and well above the 82.3 state average. GCPS had 82.5 percent of its students reading at or above grade level in third grade.
Additionally, all schools were close to 100 percent in “Beyond the Core,” which measures the number of students taking courses such as Fine Arts or World Languages, etc.
The latest CCRPI results demonstrate GCSS has over- come the losses imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic while also making serious gains in achievement and growth.
“Our teachers, parents, and students are working tirelessly to create a school system that serves all of the children of Greene County,” Dr. Houston said.
“I think it’s clear that we are doing the right things, in spite of the limitations we presently have with our elementary program being in three different buildings. Once the new elementary school is completed, the sky will be the limit,” he predicted.
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