Sunday, December 17, 2023–6:31 p.m.
-Adam Carey, Rome News-Tribune-
State academic report cards issued this week continue to show a tale of two districts, progress by the Floyd County school system versus the continuing challenges faced in the Rome school system.
The Georgia Department of Education released the 2023 College and Career Ready Performance Index this week which essentially acts as a report card for schools across the state. It shows how Floyd County and Rome’s school districts are progressing.
Floyd County Schools
Floyd County Schools continued to improve, beating the state averages in virtually all categories and at all grade levels in elementary, middle and high schools. The greatest gains were in the Content Mastery and Closing the Gap categories.
Content Mastery among elementary school students is up 3.2 points from last year to a 75.4. State average is 64.7 for elementary. Content Mastery is also up 3.1 points for middle school at 67.7 versus a state average of 60.9. High school Content Mastery is up 2.8 points to 73.2 versus a state average of 65.
Content Mastery addresses whether students are achieving at the level necessary to be prepared for the next grade, college, or career. This component includes scores in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies on Georgia Milestones and Georgia Alternate Assessment 2.0.
“We are so fortunate to have incredible teachers leading the way in all of our classrooms,” Floyd County Schools Chief Academic Officer John Parker said. “It’s also a testament to the hard work of our teachers, administrators and students and to the investments made by the board of education.”
Parker said he is proudest of how FCS scored in Closing Gaps, which essentially measures the progress of the district’s most challenged students. They are judged against benchmark improvements set by the state.
“I am so proud of our students, teachers, administrators, and staff for this fantastic accomplishment,” said Superintendent Glenn White. “Our entire system works hard every day, and results like these prove just that.”
Rome City Schools
Rome City Schools excelled in Graduation Rates and in Readiness, which measures whether students are participating in activities that are preparing them for the next level, either college or career.
Rome elementary school students scored 78.9 versus 82.3 for the state in Readiness, which is one of the city’s strongest categories. Middle school scored 79.4 versus 82 for the state, and high school scored 74.1 versus 71.4 for the state.
Superintendent Eric Holland said they were neither surprised nor disheartened by the scores, which reflect a diverse student body and a cohort of students who are still dealing with the lingering effects of COVID and the elimination of face-to-face education.
“We will continue to make investments in literacy,” Holland said. “And we know that our scores will soon reflect this investment.”
Differences
But because the two school systems — Rome City Schools and Floyd County Schools — have distinctly different demographics a side-by-side look at CCRPI states is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
Rome has considerably more students who are not fluent in English; with 24.1% of elementary, 22.9% of middle and 12.2% of high school students designated as English Learners compared to 7.4%, 7.8% and 3.1% correspondingly in Floyd county. There are also considerably more economically disadvantaged students in Rome city schools versus Floyd county.
“The two districts are very different demographically,” Parker said. “And we don’t really compare ourselves to the city. We look at districts like Bremen and Chickamauga which is a better comparison.”
