Four Coweta County Schools are considered “Needs Improvement” schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and will offer school choice options under some circumstances for the 2006-2007 school year.

East Coweta High School, Arnall Middle School and East Coweta Middle School are listed as “Needs Improvement” schools. Schools on the Needs Improvement list offer transfers, as available, to similar schools which did make Adequate Yearly Progress. These three Needs Improvement schools are non-Title I schools, so transfers are allowed on the basis of capacity in the transfer school, and on the condition that transportation for the transfer student is provided by the parent or guardian.

Evans Middle school is also considered a “Needs Improvement” school. Because it is also a Title I school, the rules governing transfers to other middle school sites and other services are different, and will be mailed to Evans parents later this week by letter.

Transfers from Arnall Middle School and East Coweta Middle School are available at the new Lee Middle School, on Willis Road.

Transfers from East Coweta High School are available at Northgate High School School.

Space is limited, and requests for transfers from these three “Needs Improvement” schools should be submitted to Kristy Childers at 770-254-2810 by 5 p.m. July 28. Telephone calls to other departments will not suffice. Parents of students on the list will be notified of their children’s placement by Tuesday, August 1.

If more students apply for transfer than the maximum available slots, then the school system must give priority to the lowest achieving students, defined as students scoring below 300 on the CRCT, high school students with a GPA below 2.0, or special education students who failed to meet the individual educational goals for the past year.

Students transferring as a result of school choice will not meet Georgia High School Athletics eligibility, and must participate in a hardship hearing for possible eligibility. High school students transferring to a new school without a corresponding move of their parents are not eligible for varsity competition for one year from the date of entrance, but could play JV during this period.

Under the national No Child Left Behind Act, annual progress is determined by students overall test participation and performance on the Georgia Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT).

22 of 25 Coweta County Schools met requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress overall and in all subgroups. East Coweta High, Arnall Middle and Evans Middle schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) overall but did not make AYP in one or more student subgroups, although the schools overall met all standards under the No child Left Behind Act.

Needs Improvement status is determined under the act if a school has not made AYP for two years in a row. Once on the Needs Improvement list, a school must make AYP for two years in a row to be taken off the list.

East Coweta Middle School made AYP overall and in all subgroups this year, but had previously appeared on the Needs Improvement list and must make AYP next year to come off the Needs Improvement list.

Three of Coweta’s five middle schools made AYP. Madras Middle school again met AYP, and Smokey Road and East Coweta Middle School improved their academic achievement scores from 2005 which allowed them to make AYP. Evans and Arnall Middle Schools did not meet the state standards in mathematics in the subgroup of Students with Disabilities.

Newnan and Northgate High School both met AYP standards for 2006. East Coweta High School did not make AYP in mathematics and language arts in the subgroups of Students With Disabilities, Economically Disadvantaged and African Americans. The second indicator for all Georgia High schools is a graduation rate of 60 percent or higher. East Coweta’s overall graduation rate was 75.4 percent, but for one subgroup it was 44.1percent.

All Coweta elementary schools met AYP standards this year, and none appear on the Needs Improvement list.

Overall CRCT scores and other indicators at the three schools not meeting AYP still met or exceeded the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. AYP, however, is determined by all subgroups within the school meeting the minimum testing requirements.

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