Schools in Marietta City Schools (MCS) showed a continued focus on student achievement and growth on the newly redesigned Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), based on data released today from the Georgia Department of Education. Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (MCAA) (95.9), West Side Elementary (90.5), Dunleith Elementary (83.4), Marietta Sixth Grade Academy (81.9), and Marietta High School (76.3) scored above the state average on Georgia’s education accountability tool that measures how well its schools, districts, and the state are helping students achieve their goals. MCS earned an overall score of 75.2.

“Our teachers, counselors, and principals have an exceptional commitment to supporting all students and closing the achievement gap,” said Grant Rivera, Superintendent of Marietta City Schools. “Getting better scores isn’t enough here in Marietta. We continue to meet the needs of the whole child through innovative classroom learning, family engagement, and a relentless focus on student achievement data.”

According to the Georgia Department of Education, the redesigned CCRPI is simpler and streamlined, measuring five components – Content Mastery, Progress, Closing Gaps, Readiness and Graduation Rate (high schools only). The number of indicators within each component was reduced in this redesigned version of the assessment. Due to the changes in CCRPI components and indicators, as well as the weighting of components, a comparison between CCRPI scores from last year to this year is not appropriate.

The real Marietta story of improvement lies in the progress scores, which show that MCS schools are significantly closing the achievement gap. Five schools demonstrated significant progress, proving that students are growing academically at a higher and faster rate than similar students throughout the state: Dunleith (99.0), MCAA (90.5), West Side Elementary (87.7), Marietta High School (87.4), and Marietta Sixth Grade Academy (86.0).

“At Dunleith we saw an increase in our CCRPI scores due to our intentional engagement with our students and their families,” said Jeff Mosley, Principal of Dunleith Elementary. “We made sure our teachers not only felt valued and appreciated but also empowered to do the work that needed to be done to improve the academic lives of their students. We focused on learning targets, maximizing instructional time and student engagement, and I made the commitment to support our staff’s professional growth opportunities and ‘get out of the way’ so that they had the opportunity to teach in ways they know will work for students. We treated our staff like professionals and our families like partners.”

Of the five schools recognized for progress, Dunleith (100.0), Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (100.0), and Marietta Sixth Grade Academy (100.0) had extraordinary Closing Gaps scores, which measures how all students and all student subgroups are making improvements in achievement rates. A total of five MCS schools outperformed the state in the area of Closing Gaps: Dunleith, MCAA, West Side, Marietta Sixth Grade Academy, and Marietta High.

MSGA Principal Corey Lawson spoke to his school’s progress, “MSGA received the highest possible score on “Closing Gaps” – 100%.  The data is a glimpse into the ongoing and complex work of intentional and purposeful focus on growth for all of our students. Our achievement gains speak to the team effort, which includes all staff, students, and families, focused on the success of every child,” said Lawson.

Five Marietta schools received a five-star climate rating: A.L. Burruss Elementary, Lockheed Elementary, West Side Elementary, Marietta Sixth Grade Academy, and Marietta Middle School. The school climate star rating is determined by a combination of criteria which includes discipline, attendance, survey data, and safe learning environment. Each school receives a School Climate Star Rating, which is calculated using data from the Georgia Student Health Survey 2.0, Georgia School Personnel Survey, Georgia Parent Survey, student discipline data, and attendance records for students and staff.

The Georgia Department of Education provides a more detailed explanation of CCRPI and individual school scores at www.gadoe.org/ccrpi.