Northwestern Middle named a Georgia School of Excellence

Posted Saturday, March 11, 2006

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Northwestern Middle School is a 2006 Georgia School of Excellence, the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE) announced March 9.

Selection criteria require that a school be the top-ranking school in its Georgia congressional district or have demonstrated dramatic gains in student achievement in reading and mathematics for the past three years. Only two schools per congressional district – one for achievement and one for improvement – can be chosen.

Scores on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, or CRCT, initially qualified Northwestern for the award. Other factors included meeting Adequate Yearly Progress for three consecutive years, having 100 percent of staff designated as “highly qualified,” as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act, and meeting or exceeding state mean scores in science and social studies.

The honor is the third Northwestern received this year from the state Department of Education. In October, the GDOE presented both a “Platinum Award” and “Silver Award” to the school as part of its new Single Statewide Accountability System Awards program. The program recognizes schools that have either the greatest gain in meeting and exceeding academic standards or the highest percentage of students meeting and exceeding academic standards.

In 2004, the GDOE reorganized the Schools of Excellence program to align with the selection standards used in the U.S. Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind/Blue Ribbon Schools program. Northwestern is now eligible for consideration as a NCLB Blue Ribbon nominee.

State Superintendent Kathy Cox will recognize Northwestern and other Schools of Excellence at a banquet May 5. Twenty schools statewide were selected for recognition in the annual program.

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