State Superintendent John Barge visited Alexander II Magnet School Monday to recognize its achievement as a 2011 Georgia School of Excellence.
The school was one of 26 across the state to receive the award. Schools are chosen from each of Georgia’s 13 congressional districts to recognize their academic achievement or gains on standardized tests.
Alexander II received the award for being among the top 10 percent of schools in the state on reading and math tests.
Recognition named for Monty Fountain, a teacher and coach who helped Superintendent Barge write a better story for himself
State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge today presented the Fountain Award to Ella Carter, a retired teacher and elementary school principal who helped Jadun McCarthy, 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year, write a better story for himself. At an assembly presenting Alexander II Magnet School with the 2011 School of Excellence Award, Dr. Barge surprised Ms. Carter with the Fountain Award.
More than 90 percent of Georgia schools were cleared of concern about testing irregularities in a review conducted by the governor’s Office of Student Achievement and the state’s testing vendor, CTB-McGraw Hill.
“This is good news,” state school Superintendent John Barge said. “It shows that the measures we put in place are having a positive impact.”
The number of schools with unusual erasure patterns on standardized tests plummeted last year after a massive cheating scandal in Atlanta that led to tighter exam security across the state, a report released Thursday shows.
Bonnie Holliday with the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement told the state school board that just three schools were flagged as “severe concern,” meaning they had 25 percent or more of classrooms with a high number of erasures. That’s compared to 74 schools in the severe category in 2009.
Near the end of the visits Tuesday afternoon at Treutlen Middle/High School, Superintendent Dr. John Barge says schools in metro areas could learn something about getting the most from their dollars from the rural schools they visited.
“We’ve seen some really strong schools. There are a lot of schools in the rural part of our state that are getting really good results with a whole lot less in the resource area. There’s probably a lot of stuff in other parts of the state that we can learn from these folks,” Dr. Barge said.
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Paid for by The Committee to Reelect John Barge State Superintendent.