The Georgia Department of Education announced today that 74 out of 243 schools have moved off the state’s list of lowest-performing schools.
Rossville Elementary in Walker County and Beaverdale Elementary in Whitfield County are two of the schools that exited off the focus school list.
The focus school list represents the state’s lowest-performing 10 percent of Title I schools based on achievement data. Title I schools educate a large share of students living in poverty.
Georgia designates the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I schools based on achievement data as priority schools. Schools with graduation rates below 60 percent for two consecutive years are also priority schools.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods said the schools that made significant progress and moved off the lists prove that underperforming schools can improve, even when facing difficult odds.
“Every school that made the necessary improvements to exit Priority or Focus School status deserves to be commended,” Woods said in a statement.