2009-2010 Fact Sheet

• U.S. News & World Report's 2010 annual list of the best high schools in the country, named Marietta High School (MHS) one of the best high schools in the nation. Of the 21,786 public high schools examined by U.S. News and its partner in the project, School Evaluation Services, the magazine named MHS a bronze medal winner.
  
  
• Newsweek's 2009 list of America's Top Public High Schools named Marietta High School (MHS) one of the best high schools in the nation, ranking it among the Top 4% (868 out of the Top 1500) of all high schools in America for the fourth year in a row.
  
  
• Marietta High School Grade 11 Regular Program First Time Test Takers (FTTT) outpaced the state on the 2009 Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) by achieving higher scaled scores in three of four subject areas tested— English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Social Studies. More than 90% of Marietta’s students reached advanced performance levels in ELA (95%), Mathematics (98%), and Social Studies (92%). Marietta netted a 90% pass rate (on par with Georgia) on the Science test.
  
  
• Marietta High School 11th graders increased their mean scale score (233) by 7 points over last year on the 2009 Georgia High School Writing Test (GHSWT). This year, Marietta’s mean scaled score of 233 is 12 points higher than the Georgia average of 221, and 10 points higher than the Atlanta metro score of 223. Of the 349 students taking the test, 96 percent either met or exceeded standards.
  
  
• MCS 4th graders scored in the 50th percentile in reading, on par with the national average, and scored above the national average in the 53rd percentile in mathematics, on the fall 2009 administration of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). Marietta 7th grade students scored in the 43rd percentile in reading, below the national average, and in the 49th percentile in mathematics, slightly under the national average. The ITBS is a nationally norm-referenced test, and it provides useful diagnostic prescriptive data that assists teachers in identifying areas of strength and weakness in areas tested, with sufficient time to remediate deficiencies prior to the CRCT administration in grades five and eight.
  
  
• The percentage of MCS middle school students meeting and exceeding standards outpaced the state by two percentage points and trailed metro Atlanta by three percentage points on the 2009 Georgia Eighth Grade Writing Assessment. Overall, the Marietta City district-wide mean scale score on the 2009 Eighth Grade Writing Assessment increased by two points to 212, and the percent of students exceeding standards increased by three percentage points to seven percent, up from four percent in 2008.
  
  
• For the second year in a row Marietta City Schools (MCS) fifth-graders meeting or exceeding standards outpaced both state and metro percentages. Of all students tested, 84 percent met or exceeded the standard. Consequently, Marietta City students outscored their state (78) and metro (82) peers by a six-point
  margin and a two-point margin respectively.
  
  
• Hickory Hills Elementary School has been named a Learning Laboratory School member of the Music-in-Education National Consortium (MIENC), sponsored by ArtsNOW. The nomination follows a successful MIENC site visit in May 2009.
  
  
• For the 4th year running, the Board of Education has successfully placed as a Top 10 Winner of the National School Board Association (NSBA) Digital School Districts Survey. This year, MCS tied for 10th place, among medium-sized school districts, in the nation’s sixth annual Digital School Districts Survey. The achievement recognizes school districts and school boards across the nation whose use of digital technology in interfacing with students, parents and community, district governing, and bettering of operations proved exceptional. Our school board also successfully recertified compliance with Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) Standards for Local Boards of Education and has met the criteria for GSBA School Board of Distinction through Jan. 1, 2012.
  
  
• For the sixth consecutive year, Unit GA-20021 at Marietta High School (MHS) has earned the Air Force Junior ROTC (JROTC) Distinguished Unit Award. Additionally, Unit GA-20021 is one of only 95 units named as a Distinguished Unit “With” Merit, the highest rating possible. In addition to garnering the Distinguished Unit Award, MHS Air Force JROTC instructors Senior Master Sergeant Noli Ewing and Lt. Col. James T. Wilson were once again named Outstanding Instructors of the Year for School Year 2008-2009.

• February 17, 2010 – State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox named Marietta High School, an AP Access and Support School included among the more than 125 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools. The 2010 AP Honor Schools are named in three categories, based on the results of 2008-2009 AP classes and exams: AP Challenge Schools; AP Access & Support Schools: Schools with 30% of AP test takers that are African-American or Hispanic and at least 30% of all AP exams scoring 3 or higher; and, AP Merit Schools. More»
  
  
• In November 2009, Marietta City Schools was named a Title I Distinguished District and awarded $50,000 for closing the achievement gap the most between economically disadvantaged students and students who are not economically disadvantaged.
  
  
• A. L. Burruss, Dunleith, Hickory Hills, Lockheed, Park Street, Sawyer Road, and West Side Elementary School earned recognition as Georgia Department of Education 2009 Title I Distinguished Schools. A Title I Distinguished school is one that achieves Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind for three or more years. The seven schools are among the total 896 Georgia Title I Distinguished Schools that have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) at least three years in a row and receive a monetary award, paid from federal funds.
  
  
• In December 2009, Marietta City Schools (MCS) earned two awards from the Georgia Department of Education’s Division for Special Education Services and the Georgia Council for Administrators of Special Education. One award recognizes MCS for outstanding efforts to improve the performance of students with disabilities by decreasing the number of students who drop out. The other award recognizes the district for meeting one or more of the state performance goals for students with disabilities by meeting the state target for graduates with regular education diplomas and for reducing the students who drop out of school.
  
  
• In 2009, for the 2nd year in a row, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (MCAA) is among the winners of the State Superintendent’s Distinguished Achievement Awards. The school earned 5 awards honoring the school for achievement and greatest improvement on state curriculum tests.
  

• In June 2008, Marietta City Schools (MCS) became one of Georgia’s first Charter School Systems.

• MCS is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School district, and is one of only a few school systems nationwide able to provide the full IB (K-12) continuum. On April 23, 2008, the school district became only the second IB World School district in Georgia authorized to offer the IB Middle Years Program (MYP) for grades 6-10. With the addition of the IB Middle Years Program to the IB Primary Years Program (PYP) offering at Sawyer Road Elementary and the long-standing IB Diploma Program (DP) at Marietta High School, MCS offers the full IB (K-12) continuum.

• Teachers use computers and other interactive technology tools in many of our classrooms from elementary to high school, sometimes on a daily basis, across all subjects and grades - in the preparation, delivery, and assessment of curriculum and instruction. Through the CyberSmart! Curriculum, students in grades K-8 learn about Internet safety, Cyber Citizenship, Computer Ethics, and netiquette. Our sixth, seventh and eighth grade students now have 1:1 computing access in at least one class per day, and across the district students rely on the use of classroom technology (interactive whiteboards, computers, printers, and other digital media) for learning.
  
  
• The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) magnet program offered at the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (elementary 3-5 magnet school) is now offered in grades 6-8.
  
  
• The district’s school choice initiative - Choice Academies program directly supports the district’s vision to be “…the school system of choice for families.”
  
  
• Marietta Reads!, the Marietta City Schools citywide effort to foster reading and literacy in the community, successfully helped Marietta ’s 2006 selection as an All-America City, because it helped the city demonstrate a program to benefit children and illustrate how the program has increased student test scores and book circulation.

High School Graduation Rate

• 19.6% Graduation rate increase for all students
  • Specifics: 64.1% in 2002-2003 to 83.7% in 2008-2009
• 29.8% Graduation rate increase for Black Students
  • Specifics: 51.3% in 2002-2003 to 81.1% in 2008-2009
• 19.2% Graduation rate increase for Hispanic students
  • Specifics: 48.9% in 2002-2003 to 68.1% in 2008-2009

Parent-teacher Conference Attendance

• Fall 2009: 91% attendance, Parent-teacher conferences (K-8)

Student Enrollment

7,811 (FY09)

Student Demographics

African-American	44.9%
American Indian	0.5%
Asian	2.6%
Hispanic	29.9%
Multi	3.0%
White	19.2%

Employees

• 1218, including 718 certified personnel (of which 601 are teachers)
• 100% Highly Qualified teachers (NCLB)