4B MyConnection | Wednesday, July 23, 2014
2014
Back-to-School
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Coweta County schools surpass state performance in all areas of CRCT By Celia Shortt celia@newnan.com
The students of Coweta County continue to excel and outperform the state of Georgia in all areas of the 2014 Criterion Reference Competency Test. The CRCT measures students’ proficiency of Georgia’s basic public school curriculum in the following areas: reading, English/language arts, math, science, and social studies in grades three to eight. T he 2014 CRCT covers a total of 30 areas and was taken by students during the 2013-2014 school year.
“Coweta County outscored the state at a higher rate in every area of the CRCT,” said Dean Jackson, public information officer for the Coweta County School System, at the board of education’s meeting on Tuesday. Jackson said Coweta students outperformed the state last year as well, but this year, they also improved their test performance in 17 of the 30 areas of the test. “I am proud of our teachers and students and the efforts they make every day,” said Coweta County School Superintendent Dr. Steve Barker. “They are achiev-
ing at a high level of success and continuing to improve on that success from year to year.” Some key achievements for Coweta County students in the 2014 CRCT include: • E i g h t y - n i n e p e r c e n t of t h i rd g raders met or exceeded standards in social s t ud ie s , si x p ercent a ge points higher than the state of Georgia and a five percentage point improvement over the 2013 passage rate. • Ninety-six percent of fifth graders met or exceeded standards in reading and English/language arts.
• Ninety percent of f ifth graders met or exceeded math standards.
dards, and 96 percent met or exceeded English/language art standards.
• Eighty-six percent of fifth graders met or exceeded science standards.
• Almost 87 percent of eighth graders met or exceeded the standards in social studies.
• Seventh and eighth graders outperformed the state by almost seven percentage points in math. Sixth graders also outperformed the state in math by almost five percentage points.
Dr. Barker was pleased with the students’ performance and their improvements, especially with the testing changes coming next year. “This is an important year for us in regards to assessment,” he said. He reminded the school board the present CRCT is changing, and the new test will include more openended questions.
• Eighth grade students outperformed the state in science by seven percent. • N i n e t y - e i g h t p e r c e n t of eighth graders met or exce e de d re ad i n g st a n-
School lunch prices to increase in 2014 By Celia Shortt celia@newnan.com
Students and adults will be paying more for school lunches in the 2014 school year, as the Coweta County Board of Education approved a price increase earlier this week. The school board approved the 15-cent increase per full paying student and 25-cent increase for adult meals at their regular monthly meeting on July 8. With this increase, elementary school lunches are $2.50 and middle and high school lunches are $2.75. Prices for adult meals at all schools are now $3. “It’s still a very good price for our meals,” said Coweta County School Superintendent Dr. Steve Barker. “Mrs. (Cathe) Nixon and her staff do a great job. Our lunches are well done and prepared well. They do a good job putting a menu together for us.” A small portion of this increase is to be in compliance with a USDA require-
ment, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This act works to improve “the critical nutrition and hunger safety-net” for kids. A larger part of the increase is to make sure the school’s nutrition program remains self-sustaining. “The majority of the increase will cover the whole cost to prepare and serve full-paying students,” said Dr. Barker. “This will help provide the school nutrition budget adequate cash flow for expenses throughout the year.” Even being self-sustaining, the school nutrition program does receive funds from free and reduced lunch paying students, but they must be able to sustain the program with the students who pay for their lunches. “We did hold off on increasing these prices last year … but it is time for us to do that this year,” added Dr. Barker. The school lunch program will still function the same way it has in the past. The only change is the increased price.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the school board: • Approved Strawbridge, Inc.’s bid for the school photos in the fall of the 20142015 school year. The four picture packages range in price from $3 to $6. Strawbridge did last year’s school photos, as well.
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• Approved the policy committee’s report and changes.
• Heard Dr. Barker’s updates on the school system’s construction projects. All are progressing and on track for the start of school.
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• Approved the board Governance Training for Plan for the 2015 fiscal year.
• Heard Dr. Keith Chapman’s financial report. Chapman is the assistant superintendent for financial services for the school system. He is estimating the school system will use $1.6 million from reserves. He also reported the sales tax numbers are still strong.
“Some of those changes are taking place next year,” he said. “There’s going to be a different report, a different scoring mechanism.” T h i s new test i ng system, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, will replace both current assessments currently used for students – the CRCTs and EOCTs – and will be aligned to the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. T he St ate of G e or g i a awarded a $107.8 million, five-year contract to CTB/ McGraw-Hill on May 28 to develop the new testing system.
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