APS Leads Metro Atlanta, Exceeds State with ‘Beat the Odds’ Schools

Thirty-six APS schools performed better than expected on College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) when compared with schools with similar characteristics across the state.

Hot off the press! Atlanta Public Schools, based on new analysis released today by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), leads Metro Atlanta districts and exceeds the state in the percentage of “Beat the Odds” schools!

According to GOSA analysis, 36 APS schools, or 41 percent of our schools, “Beat the Odds!” Based on the calculations released by the state, APS has the highest percentage of schools that Beat the Odds when compared to other metro-area districts. In addition — wait for it — APS beat the overall state rate, which came in at 31 percent!

Beat the Odds Percentages for State and Metro-Area School Districts:

As the APS community knows, I never hesitate to share our data – the good, the bad, the ugly. But I am ecstatic when I can share data such as this that reflect so positively on the hard work of our students, our teachers, our principals and other school leaders and staff.  Every day, we are striving toward excellence on our Journey of Transformation. Today’s news shows that we continue to make gains!

I want to highlight our 36 schools that Beat the Odds and give a special shout out to each school principal for a job well done!

I also want to recognize Deputy Superintendent David Jernigan and the entire Schools and Academics team, especially our Associate Superintendents Dr. Danielle Battle, Yolonda Brown, Dr. Emily Massey, Dr. Dan Sims, and Tommy Usher; our Chief Accountability and Information Officer Bill Caritj and his team, including Michael LaMont and the Data Information Group for providing us with a full analysis of these results.

As we work toward achieving improved results, it’s important that we look holistically at our schools’ overall academic performance. We can’t and don’t look at just one indicator or another to measure progress. We have to analyze all of it.  Today’s Beat the Odds analysis is one of the pieces of information we use to analyze school performance, and it serves as a complement to CCRPI.

To give you a broader perspective on the Beat the Odds analysis, here’s a little more information:

• The Beat the Odds calculation represents whether a school’s performance on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) was higher than schools with similar characteristics across the state.
• The calculation includes variables that are outside of a school’s control, such as school size, percent directly certified, percent English learners, percent of students with disabilities, percent of students in each race (excluding Native American), school churn rate, whether a school is defined as non-traditional and the school type.

Also, prior to 2018, schools were designated as either “Beat the Odds” or “Did Not Beat the Odds. Beginning last year, “Did Not Beat the Odds” schools were split into “Within the Expected Range” and “Below the Expected Range.”  In addition to the 36 APS schools that Beat the Odds (down from 46 last year), 35 were classified as “Within the Expected Range” (up from 26 last year) and 16 were classified as “Below the Expected Range” (the same as last year). This means a total of 71 APS schools, or more than 80%, either Beat the Odds or performed Within the Expected Range; this is consistent with 2018 performance.

You can learn more about this year’s Beat the Odds analysis on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement’s website at https://gosa.georgia.gov/beating-odds-analysis.

Thank you for being engaged in the work of APS and for supporting our efforts to prepare all of our students for the choice-filled lives they deserve!