Fannin County School System Director of Achievement Sarah Rigdon told the Fannin County Board of Education, during a meeting Thursday, November 14, that most of the school district’s College & Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) scores decreased this year.
The school district’s overall score was 71.7 for 2019, while it was 81.8 in 2018. The Elementary School overall score was 67.9 for 2019 and 83.6 in 2019. The Middle School overall score increased from 2018’s score of 75.7 to 79.9 for 2019. The High School score dropped from 84.1 in 2018 to 70.6 for 2019.
“We’re still committed to preparing our students for their futures and we’re continuing to strive for a 100% graduation rate,” Rigdon said. “Sometimes it is painful when you look at data and you realize that you’re not exactly where you were the year before, but you know what, the view from the valley is just as good as the view from the mountain sometimes. Sometimes having to be in the valley makes the mountain top even sweeter.”
According to Rigdon, the majority of the CCRPI is derived from standardized test scores.
“We have a lot going on in our schools, a lot of positive things, that are not represented in CCRPI,” she said. “We will continue to work toward being true to our mission and our vision.”
The state as a whole also saw a decrease in the most of the categories. State Superintendent Richard Woods said, “As we aim to lessen the number of high-stakes tests our students take, we need the weight of testing in CCRPI to reflect the same priorities. Georgia’s parents, taxpayers, students and educators deserve a fair measurement of performance that lifts up, rather than labels, our public schools.”
During the presentation of the scores, Superintendent Dr. Michael Gwatney said, “It was just a very short period of time that we had the SACS Advanced Ed committee here in our district assessing our instructional practices and evaluated us, within the same time-frame that we were giving those tests that we’re now seeing, as having exceptional instructional practices with the highest overall score that I’ve come across. There are ups and downs on the way up.”
In other action, the board presented the NEXUS Award to Director of School Nutrition Candice Sisson. The award is given to school nutrition programs and directors who have created outstanding nutrition programs in their district. Three programs were recognized based on the size of their system. Sisson received the award in the Small System category.
“We’re so proud of you,” Gwatney said to Sisson.
The board also voted to renew their lease with Feed Fannin to continue using the tract of land located at 762 Ada Street in Blue Ridge for their garden.
This year, the organization has harvested 4,744 pounds of sweet potatoes, 1,849 pounds of tomatoes and an abundance of other produce for a record breaking year. They donated 9,488 lbs of produce overall.
“Thank you for a great educational resource for our students as well as the community,” Board member Terry Bramlett said to Feed Fannin representative Connie Galloway.