District 1 School Board Member Sworn in to New Term of Office Last month, Katha Stuart began her first full term after serving the unexpired term of retired District 1 member Linda Schultz.Stuart represents areas in Alpharetta and Roswell. A 20-year resident of District 1 and a parent of two teenagers, Stuart has been involved in Fulton County Schools activities since her children first started kindergarten at Mountain Park Elementary. Over the years, she has served in various PTA and School Governance Council (formerly Local School Advisory Council) roles at Mountain Park Elementary School, Crabapple Middle School and Roswell High School. Stuart has also been a part of the Superintendents Community Advisory Committee and has been a parent advocate for supporting SPLOST funding.
Handmade Cards for Kids Recently, every student at Alpharetta High School made an uplifting, handmade card in their Anchor Time class for a hospitalized child. The student council collected and shipped the cards in a large package to an organization called Cards for Hospitalized Kids, which sends the cards to hospitals all around the country. The purpose of this project was to make a tangible difference in the day, and hopefully even in the life, of children with terminal illnesses in hospitals all around the country.
Fultons 2016 College and Career Ready Performance Index The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) released 2016 results for the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). The CCRPI is Georgias statewide accountability system that replaced the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measurement after the U.S. Department of Education granted Georgias waiver from NCLB in 2012. CCRPI measures schools and school districts on a 100-point scale, helping parents and the public to better understand how schools are performing in a more comprehensive manner than the pass/fail system previously in place under AYP. For 2016, Fulton Countys overall score of 74.7 is higher than the state score of 73.6, with most schools scoring above the state average. Fultons high school average saw an increase of 7.4 points 3.4 points higher than the state score from the previous year. Although Fultons elementary average dropped slightly from the previous year, the elementary average is 0.5 points higher than the state score. The Fulton middle school score fell 1.3 points below the state average.Two schools scored over 100 points due to extra points given for exceeding the bar Lake Windward Elementary and Northview High School with scores of 100.4 and 101.2, respectively. Nearly half (44) of Fultons schools have scores of 80 and above: 25 elementary schools, 10 middle schools and nine high schools.Seven schools also had double-digit gains from the previous year Riverwood International Charter School (+23.4), Milton High School (+22.5), Cambridge High School (+17.5), Northwestern Middle School (+14.3), Seaborn Lee Elementary School (+14.1), Chattahoochee High School (+12.7) and Liberty Point Elementary School (+10.7).Through CCRPIs measurement, a school and districts overall score is made up of three major areas: achievement (50 points possible), progress (40 points possible) and achievement gap (10 points possible). In Fulton County, the 2016 CCRPI scores averaged as 74.7 for the entire district, 73.3 for elementary schools, 70.8 for middle schools and 79.5 for high schools. By comparison, the state averages were 72.8 for elementary schools, 72.1 for middle schools and 76.1 for high schools.
Fultons Graduation Rate Highest Among Metro Atlantas Large School Systems The results of the 2016 graduation scores show that Fulton, again, has the distinction of having the highest graduation rate in the metro Atlanta area. Fultons 2016 graduation rate is 86.6% a 1.3% increase over the 2015 rate of 85.3%. The Class of 2016 data shows that nine Fulton high schools had increases from the previous year, and three of those schools increased their rates by more than 5%. Most notable are the significant increases made over a five-year period. From 2011 to 2016, Fultons graduation rate increased 16.5%. While nearly all schools have shown gains, ten of the districts eighteen high schools reported double-digit increases. The work that our schools are doing to increase students graduation opportunities is amazing and inspiring. Five years ago, some of our schools had stagnant progress in their graduation rates, said Superintendent Jeff Rose, Ed.D. Now, these schools have increased 20-30% in getting students to graduate on time. At a 2016 rate of 86.6%, we continue to be on track for meeting our strategic plan goal of 90% of all students graduating by 2017.
Fultons Graduation Rate Highest Among Metro Atlantas Large School Systems The results of the 2016 graduation scores show that Fulton, again, has the distinction of having the highest graduation rate in the metro Atlanta area. Fultons 2016 graduation rate is 86.6% a 1.3% increase over the 2015 rate of 85.3%. The Class of 2016 data shows that nine Fulton high schools had increases from the previous year, and three of those schools increased their rates by more than 5%. Most notable are the significant increases made over a five-year period. From 2011 to 2016, Fultons graduation rate increased 16.5%. While nearly all schools have shown gains, ten of the districts eighteen high schools reported double-digit increases. The work that our schools are doing to increase students graduation opportunities is amazing and inspiring. Five years ago, some of our schools had stagnant progress in their graduation rates, said Superintendent Jeff Rose, Ed.D. Now, these schools have increased 20-30% in getting students to graduate on time. At a 2016 rate of 86.6%, we continue to be on track for meeting our strategic plan goal of 90% of all students graduating by 2017.
Centennial HSs Award-Winning, All-Female JROTC For the first time in its history, Centennial High School has enough women in its JROTC program to make up an all-female team. Recently, the team earned third place overall, out of six female teams, at the North Forsyth Raider Meet. The all-female team also won trophies for placing first, second or third in three of the six event categories. The Raider Meet combined a series of mentally and physically demanding events, such as the cross-country rescue (first aid skills and the litter carry), one-rope bridge, map reading, ammo-can relay, tire flip, Humvee pull, obstacle course and team runs.
Metro Atlantas Taylor Road MS Music Teacher is in the Semifinals for a Grammy Award Nicole Thompson, a music teacher at Taylor Road Middle School, is one of 25 semifinalists for the 2017 Music Educator Award, which is sponsored by the Recording Academy and Grammy Foundation. Thompson is one of two semifinalists from Georgia and among 25 candidates across sixteen states. The lucky winner will be flown to Los Angeles to be recognized during Grammy Week, and will attend the 59th Grammy Awards ceremony as well as other Grammy Foundation events. A list of ten finalists will be announced this month. Nine of them will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all ten finalists will receive matching grants.
Minions Comes to Creek View Elementary Last month, the Creek View Elementary School PTA hosted Screen on the Green, where students, staff and their families were treated to the movie, Minions, in the schools courtyard. There were food and yogurt vendors and even a Toasted Cheese food truck. One lucky PTA member won a piata filled with candy, and a second member won a life-size Minion.
Riverwood International Charter School Student is Published in Journal of Applied Physics Riverwood International Charter School senior Kenzie Fisher co-authored a paper titled Effect of Top Electrode Material on Radiation-Induced Degradation of Ferroelectric Thin Film Structures, which was published online in the Journal of Applied Physics (Vol. 120, Issue 2). In addition, Fisher completed an internship in materials science at Georgia Tech during the summers following her sophomore and junior years. Kenzie conducted research and created ferroelectric PZT (lead zirconate titanate) thin films and performed tests on other thin films that were created by the Army Research Lab. A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. Thin films play an important role in the development and study of materials with new and unique properties. Because of her data collection work at Georgia Tech, Fisher received credit as a co-author on the paper.
Local Teacher Brings Sustainable Agriculture to the Classroom Thanks to two mini-grants provided by the Riverwood International Charter School PTSA, AP Environment and Earth Systems teacher Patti Lawrimore is able to continue her quest to explore and examine means to bring sustainable agriculture to the urban environment. Lawrimores quest began during the 2015-2016 school year with the purchase of a 55-gallon tank for her classroom, funded by a PTSA mini-grant. Her students grew trout in the tank and released the live fish into the Chattahoochee River. This year, the students converted the tank to an aquaponic system a system that grow plants organically using fish waste to feed young plants, while the roots of the plants feed the fish. This completely organic system produces food without soil and uses 80% less water than traditional systems. The 2016-2017 mini-grant funded the addition of a hydroponic tank to the classroom, an inorganic system where synthetic fertilizers are added to the water to feed the plants. This system cycles water across the plant roots, but fertilizer provides the food for the plants. There is still low impact on the soil, and the water use is the same as with the aquaponic system.