Seven Stone Mountain Schools Need Improvement, State Report Says

Seven schools with Stone Mountain addresses, including Stone Mountain High School, are classified "needs improvement" in the state's initial 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress report.

Other schools with that designation are: Freedom Middle School, Redan Middle School, Stephenson Middle School, Stone Mill Elementary, Elizabeth Andrews High School and the International Community School.

Adequate Yearly Progress requires schools to meet standards in three areas. They are Test Participation (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), Academic Performance (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), and a Second Indicator. High schools must have a graduation rate of 85 percent or higher (5 percentage points more than last year).

Redan and Stephenson high schools met AYP goals after being placed in the "needs improvement" category last year.

Nine schools in all with Stone Mountain addresses met AYP goals, and six of them are classified "distinguished," meaning they have made AYP for three consecutive years. Those were Allgood Elementary, DeKalb Academy, DeKalb Early College Academy, Smoke Rise Elementary, Champion Theme Middle School and Wynbrooke Elementary.

Beside the two high schools, Eldridge L. Miller Elementary also met AYP goals.

The schools that were classified "adequate" but that failed to meet the goals were: Dunaire Elementary, Hambrick Elementary, Pine Ridge Elementary, Redan Elementary, Rockbridge Elementary, Rowland Elementary, Stone Mountain Elementary, Woodridge Elementary and Stone Mountain Middle School.

Statewide, 63.2 percent of all schools made AYP in 2011, compared with 71 percent last year. Part of the reason is that goals were raised.

"The rate at which the academic bar and the graduation rate requirement increased this year prevented more schools from making AYP," State School Superintendent John Barge said in a press release. "We knew we were up against the proverbial wall because this bar increases each year, and it appears that we have begun to hit it."

Click here to see the AYP reports and spreadsheets.