Newspaper Page Text
EDUCATION
THURSDAY, MAY 17-23, 2018 • Page 12
Five high schools in
DeKalb County named
among best in U.S.
BY DEREK SMITH
derek@dekalbchamp.com
DeKalb School of the Arts
(DSA) is the second best high
school in Georgia and the 75th
best in the nation, according to
new rankings released May 9
by U.S. News and World Report.
“I’m very pleased that
we continue to be noticed
through this ranking.” DSA
Principal Susan McCauley
told The Champion. “We
have intrinsically motivated
students that come to DeKalb
School of the Arts, that really
care about learning. We have
very dedicated staff that
work to meet the needs of all
students. Our students come
(to the school) with varying
levels of achievement and we
work with each student to try
to maximize their potential.
In addition to DSA,
Chamblee Charter High School
(CCHS) of the DeKalb County
School District (DCSD) and
Decatur High School (DHS)
of City Schools of Decatur
(CSD) earned gold medal
recognitions. Two other DCSD
schools—Arabia Mountain
High School Academy of
Engineering Medicine and
Environmental Studies
and DeKalb Early College
Academy—were honored,
earning silver and bronze
medals respectively.
A gold designation is
given to schools ranked
in the top 500 schools for
college readiness based on
the magazines index. Silver-
designated schools have
lower college readiness than
gold schools, and bronze
schools perform well on state
assessments.
“Gold medal recognition
is years in the making,” DHS
principal Arlethea Williams
told The Champion in an email.
“Over the last decade, we’ve
worked to hold students to a
higher expectation of learning
... This gold medal shows
us that we are on our way to
meeting our goal of every
student pursuing their passions
in high school and beyond.”
According to the U.S. News
and World Report website, the
list, produced annually by the
magazine, ranked more than
6,500 high schools nationwide
on four criteria: students
expectations in their states;
underserved (Black, Hispanic
or low-income) students who
performed better than the state
average; a student graduation
rate of more than 80 percent
and student preparedness for
college-level coursework based
on the magazine’s custom
college readiness index.
“I think [DCSD] has
made great gains in meeting
the needs of diverse student
populations,” McCauley
said. “If you look at the
demographics of each of the
schools, they’re completely
different. With each school
looking so different, I think
that shows that the district
Is supporting students from
wherever they started to
wherever they want to be.”
DSA earned an 88.1 on the
college readiness index while
CCHS—which ranked 14th in
Georgia and 457th nationally—
scored a 59.7. DHS ranked
16th in Georgia and 496th in
the country, scoring 57.9 on
the index.
“We have a strong
advanced placement program
here. For such a small school,
the number of students that
take AP classes is really
amazing,” McCauley said.
Parent’s dissatisfied with City Schools of Decatur special needs report
BY DEREK SMITH
derek@dekalbchamp.com
Parents of students with special
needs in City Schools of Decatur (CSD )
were dissatisfied with a report on the
district’s special education program,
according to a post and comments
on the CSD Special Education Parent
Teacher Association Facebook page.
Georgia State University’s (GSU)
College of Education and Human
Development presented the report to
the CSD Board of Education at the May
8 board meeting. The report is a result
of a $93,000 contract approved by the
CSD school board in Dec. 2016 to have
GSU conduct an evaluation on the CSD
special education program.
The report was based on nine
months of research, according to
executive director of the GSU Urban
Child Study Center Nicole Patton-
Terry. It consisted of a 29-page slide
show and a two-page summary of the
slide show.
“I left with more questions than
answers,” president of the CSD
Special Education Parent Teacher
Association Kara Campbell wrote on
her organization’s Facebook page. “Will
we have access to the whole report? Or
were the slides the whole report?”
The report, which is available on the
CSD website, presented several findings
and recommendations, including that
CSD is growing rapidly This growth has
resulted in an increase in the number of
students with special education needs.
Since 2011, the number of students
served by CSD schools with special
education needs has nearly tripled,
according to the report.
The report also found that shifts in
the disability populations served has
created challenges with service delivery
and communication between families,
teachers, schools, and administration.
The report recommended that CSD
strengthen communication protocols
in special education to ensure common
language and expectations. The report
also recommended that the district
consider grade level and disability
type in the allocation of resources,
professional learning opportunities
across all grade levels and in CSD’s
school configuration.
Currently, CSD elementary schools
serve students in kindergarten through
third grade that feed into an academy
for fourth- and fifth-grade students. An
academy for students in third through
fifth grade is set to open at the start
of the 2019 school year. According
to school officials, this will shift the
configuration of the district to a system
of kindergarten through second grade
schools that feed into two academies of
students in third through fifth grade.
Campbell said she wanted more out
of the presentation, such as inclusion of
the parents’ comments from interviews
conducted during the research phase.
“I had a hard time reconciling my
own experiences, as a parent to three
[special education] students, with what
was presented last night,” she wrote. “I
want to be part of this process.”
Comments on Campbell’s post
echoed her dissatisfaction. Campbell
suggested the formation of an
independent committee of parents and
stakeholders to form a plan of action
beyond public comment at the next
board meeting June 14.
CSD Superintendent David
Dude said on his blog that he and
the board would return at a future
meeting “for discussion and possible
recommendations.”
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