Two Dalton schools have been categorized as "Beating the Odds" by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) and two more were within one point of that designation. Eight of the nine schools in the district were either categorized as "Beating the Odds" or Within Expected Range. GOSA uses a statistical analysis to compare a school's actual performance on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) with the performance of schools across the state with similar characteristics within the state.
Park Creek and Dalton High School were tiered as "Beating the odds" while Dalton Middle and Brookwood missed the cut off by one point and were categorized as performing Within Expected Range. Blue Ridge, City Park, Roan and Westwood were also categorized as performing within expected range. Morris Innovative High School was the only school to score within the tier of Below Expected Range.
Some of the characteristics used to determine similar schools included in the calculation are:
- Percentage of economically disadvantaged students,
- Percentage of English language learners,
- Percentage of students with disabilities,
- Percentage of students in each race/ethnicity,
- Percent of female students,
- Student mobility and
- School size.
Schools are categorized into one of three different tiers based on their performance: "Beating the Odds," Within Expected Range and Below Expected Range. Schools that are deemed as "Beating the Odds," perform above the top of CCRPI range established by GOSA. Schools that perform within that established CCRPI range by GOSA are tiered as "Within Expected Range." Finally, schools that perform below the established CCRPI range by GOSA are tiered as "Below Expected Range."
"While we are certainly pleased with our increases in performance on the Georgia Milestones Assessment System (GMAS), CCRPI and the Beating the Odds statistical analysis, there is still work to be done to provide our students with a world-class education," said Dalton Superintendent Tim Scott. "We continue to see our academic performance improve thanks to a tremendous amount of hard work, dedication and focus by our students and their teachers."
