The Clarke County School District’s graduation rate fell in 2022-23 for at least the fourth year in a row, but recently released test scores showed signs of improvement at elementary and middle schools.
Clarke Central High School’s four-year graduation rate fell from 82.1% to 81% last year, and Cedar Shoals’ fell from 73.5% to 71.5%. Classic City High School’s five-year graduation rate rose from 69% to 75%. Districtwide, the graduation rate was 77%. It was 78.3% in 2021-22, 81.3% in 2020-21, 81.7% in 2019-20 and 82.3% in 2018-19.
“Our community expects for us—and we expect of ourselves as a district—to deliver meaningful, empowering and engaging learning opportunities for each child we serve,” CCSD Superintendent Robbie Hooker said in a news release. “Using our new five-year Strategic Plan as our guiding force, we will strive to make significant progress in changing the trajectory of our district through yearly action plans. We will also hold ourselves accountable through quarterly updates to the Board of Education and the community.”
District officials provided an update to the board of education at an Oct. 12 meeting. Milestones standardized test results for elementary school English Language Arts (28% proficiency) and middle school non-algebra math (23%) were unchanged. Elementary school math (33%), middle school ELA (27%), middle school algebra (88%) and high school algebra (24%) rose. High school American literature fell from 34% who scored proficient or above to 32%. All remained lower than the Northeast Georgia region and the state as a whole.
Results from iReady tests showed that 25% of students in kindergarten through eighth grade are reading at grade level or above, up one point from last fall, while the 15% of students who are at or above grade level in math was unchanged.
Johnnie Lay Burks (formerly Chase Street) Elementary was among the highest-performing Title I schools in the state. As a Title I Distinguished School, Burks is among the top 5% of high-poverty schools that receive additional federal funds, outpacing the state and regional averages for Milestones scores. Three other local elementary schools—Fowler Drive, J.J. Harris and Winterville—were named Title I Reward Schools, meaning they were among the fastest-improving 5% of schools.
In addition, all 21 CCSD schools were recognized by the Georgia Department of Education for implementing a disciplinary framework called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Winterville Elementary was named a Distinguished PBIS School for completing a second tier of training and meeting all of the state’s outcome data measures.
At the Oct. 12 BOE meeting, officials also announced that CCSD has received a grant for two additional health clinics. New clinics at the H.T. Edwards campus and Coile Middle will join existing ones at Hilsman Middle and Clarke Middle. The Georgia Department of Public Health is also using a mobile clinic to offer vaccines to students.
The board also voted unanimously to buy the former Rutland Academy property on Oglethorpe Avenue. The six-acre property was appraised at nearly $8 million, but because CCSD already owns a 40% interest, the district has agreed to pay a total of $4.7 million to 12 neighboring school districts that also own shares. Rutland Academy served students from 13 Athens-area districts with severe emotional and behavioral disorders until closing in 2021, after the U.S. Justice Department and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation in 2016 found that Georgia’s psychoeducational program was segregating and “warehousing” students. Neither CCSD administrators nor school board members said what the district plans to do with the property, and a CCSD spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
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