Brooks County High School was named one of the worst performing schools in the state of Georgia by the Georgia Department of Education earlier this week.

As part of its waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law, the DOE created a list of the 78 worst performing schools in the state. The list identifies the state’s priority schools, which are those schools that consistently perform poorly on tests and have low graduation rates.

All of the 78 schools were placed in one of three tiers. Brooks County High School was named a Tier II school.

Tier I schools

Any Title I school in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring that:

• Is among the lowest-achieving 5 percent of those schools in the state (or the lowest-achieving five such schools); or

• Is a high school that has a three-year average graduation rate less than 60 percent.

Calculations to identify Tier I schools will be based on:

• 2009-2010 Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, and restructuring.

• Lack of progress in academic achievement over a two-year period for all students in reading/language arts and math combined.

Tier II schools

 Any secondary school that is eligible for, but does not receive, Title I, Part A funds and:

• Is among the lowest-achieving 5 percent of such secondary schools in the state (or the lowest-achieving five such secondary schools) or

• Is a high school that has a three-year average graduation rate less than 60 percent.

Calculations to identify Tier II schools will be based on:

• Proficiency combined with lack of progress over time for all students.

• Proficiency based on combined scores for reading/language arts and math for all students.

• Lowest-achieving schools chosen from lowest to highest proficiency rates stopping at 5 percent.

 

Tier III schools

 Any Title I school in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring that is not a Tier I or a Tier II school.

The Single Percentage Method will be used in calculating academic achievement in terms of proficiency, and the Lowest Achieving Over Multiple Years method will be used in determining whether a school has demonstrated a lack of progress over a number of years. Weights will also be applied based on school type (elementary, middle and high).

Academic progress is defined as improving proficiency levels on state assessments in the “all students” group by a significant amount (5-10 ten percent) over prior year levels.

SIG guidance defines secondary school as “a school that provides secondary education, as determined under state law, except that the term does not include any education beyond grade 12.” While Georgia law doesn’t provide a definition for a secondary school, the operational definition of secondary school has been any school with the combination of grades 9-12.

The Times contacted the Brooks County School System, but the school system offered no comment Friday afternoon.

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