School choice sites for the three Coweta County middle schools
designated as “Needs Improvement” schools under the No Child
Left Behind Act have been announced.
Arnall Middle, East Coweta Middle and Evans Middle School are
offering optional school choice under the federal law.
Under No Child Left Behind, a school is identified as “Needs
Improvement” if it has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
in the same subject for two consecutive years. Needs Improvement
schools must offer transfers to other schools, or offer
supplemental tutoring services to eligible students who remain
at their districted school.
Once identified as Needs Improvement, a school must make AYP for
two consecutive years to come off the Needs Improvement list.
Arnall and East Coweta Middle made AYP in the 2008-09 school
year. Evans did not make AYP in this year’s July report, but is
expected to make AYP and come off the Needs Improvement list
when the state issues a revised report this September.
Because the three middle schools are designated as Title I
schools, bus transportation is available for students who
transfer, as long as the school remains a Needs Improvement
School.
School transfer sites vary for each of the three schools.
- Arnall Middle School students may transfer to Lee Middle
School or Smokey Road Middle School.
- East Coweta Middle School students may transfer to
Smokey Road Middle School and Madras Middle School.
- Evans Middle School students may transfer to Lee Middle
School or Smokey Road Middle School.
Parents who wish to transfer their child from their current
school to one of the two optional sites must complete and
notarize an application for transfer. Application forms were
sent to parents by mail this week, and can also be found on the
school system website at
www.cowetaschools.org.
The application can be returned to the school or to the school
system’s Central Office at 167 Werz Drive in Newnan. To transfer
in time for the first day of school, transfer applications
should be returned by Thursday, August 6, 2009. Parents may:
- Return the form to the school, or to Kristy Chaffin or
Sherry Warren at the Werz Drive Central Office (free notary
public services are available at schools and at the Central
Office);
- Fax the notarized copy to the Central Office at
770-254-2828. Parents should call 770-254-2800 to verify
receipt of fax.
- Mail the notarized copy to Sherry Warren, Coweta County
Title 1 Office, 167 Werz Industrial Drive, Newnan, GA 30263.
Parents should call 770-254-2800 to verify receipt of
letter.
Students who transfer to a school may remain there until they
complete the highest grade available (8th grade), or they may
opt to return to their district school at any time.
Bus transportation to transfer sites will only be provided until
the current school is no longer designated Needs Improvement. If
a school is no longer a Needs Improvement school, students who
have transferred to another school may continue enrollment
there, but parents would need to provide transportation.
Evans is not expected to be on the list for the 2010-11 school
year due to the expected revision to AYP status this September.
Transportation services for transferred students would continue
throughout the 2009-10 school year, but bus transportation for
transferred students would not be offered for the 2010-11 school
year.
Also, if Arnall Middle and East Coweta Middle make AYP at the
end of the 2009-10 school year, those schools would be taken off
the Needs Improvement list as well and would no longer offer bus
transportation to transferred students.
25 of Coweta County’s 27 schools made AYP in the 2008-09 No
Child Left Behind report, including all elementary and all high
schools. The schools which did not make AYP met the testing
criteria as a whole, but narrowly missed testing criteria in one
subgroup of students (CRCT Mathematics in the Students With
Disabilities subgroup).
The Coweta County School System as a whole made AYP as well,
unlike several other Georgia school systems, and the school
system is not on the Needs Improvement list.
In middle schools, the criteria needed to meet AYP each year
includes student attendance and student performance on the 2009
Criterion Reference Competency Test Math and Reading/Language
Arts sections. The passage rates for Coweta’s six middle schools
were:
Students Meeting & Exceeding in
| School |
Enrollment |
CRCT Reading/LA |
CRCT Mathematics |
| Arnall |
908 |
93.5% |
81.5% |
| Evans |
739 |
91.0% |
75.8% |
| East Coweta |
739 |
90.6% |
75.7% |
| Lee
Middle |
950 |
94.5% |
80.5% |
| Madras |
1024 |
94.7% |
84.5% |
| Smokey
Road |
799 |
88.5% |
76.5% |
Evans Middle School has offered school choice as a Needs
Improvement site since the 2007-2008 school year. The number of
students who were eligible for choice and the number who
participated in school choice have been:
| Year |
Students
Eligible |
Student
Transfers |
| 2007 |
801 |
64 |
|
2008 |
819 |
73 |
| 2009 |
729 |
78 |
More information about the Georgia No Child Left Behind
annual report can be found on the Georgia Department of
Education’s website at
www.gadoe.org. |