UPDATE: Grady High one step above Georgia's worst performing schools

Update: March 27, 2012

On its website, the Georgia Department of Education lists “Grad Rate’’ as the reason Grady High School was placed on the “Focus” schools list. But the 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress report shows Grady as having graduation rates of 88.5 percent in 2011 and 91.6 percent in 2010.

When contacted by Patch, Matt Cardoza, director of communications for the Georgia Department of Education, explained the "Grad Rate'' listing for Grady.

"It is listed correctly,'' Cardoza wrote in an email. "Focus schools are either for graduation rates lower than 60% or achievement gaps in achievement or graduation rate between the highest performing subgroup and the lowest performing subgroup. They are on it because of the gap on graduation rate between their highest subgroup and their lowest subgroup."

As a parent, homeowner or involved community member, are you concerned that Grady has been classified as a "focus" school?

Here is a link to the GDE site

Here is the link for the 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress report

Original story

was among seven Atlanta Public Schools listed by the Georgia Department of Education as one of the 156 schools classified as "focus" schools under the state's new accountability system.

“Focus’’ schools, which are one level above the state’s worst performing “priority” schools, are classified for two reasons. Either they have less than 60 percent graduation rate over a two-year period, or have large gaps between the best and worst achieving “subgroups” (determined by race, special needs and family income) of students.

The other six APS schools included Bunche Middle School, Deerwood Academy, Heritage Academy Elementary School, King Middle School, Miles Elementary School and Price Middle School

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The Atlanta Public Schools board of education will hold an important April meeting at Jackson High School, located at 801 Glenwood Ave.

The April 10 meeting — where board members are expected to vote on the final plan to close underutilized schools and redraw school attendance zones — is set to begin at 2 p.m.

The district chose Jackson because of the expected crowd and proximity to the downtown central office.

Board of education meetings are usually held at APS' downtown headquarters. Since the redistricting process began in November, meetings have been well attended and the auditorium at Jackson, along with its overflow room, can accomodate more people.

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The Georgia Governor's Honors Program, which provides "intellectually gifted and artistically talented high school students" four weeks of "challenging and enriching educational opportunities" during the summer, announced the 2012 finalists.

Four Grady students qualified for state interviews:

• Archer Kinnane (Mathematics)
• Rachel Klika (Theatre Design)
• Adam Schatz (Mathematics)
• Grace White (Communicative Arts)