NCSS Releases 2014-2015 College and Career Ready Performance Index Scores

State School Superintendent Richard Woods today released the Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) for the 2014-2015 school year. The CCRPI measures schools and school districts on a 100-point scale.

A school and district’s overall score is made up of three major areas: Achievement (50 points possible), Progress (40 points possible) and Achievement Gap (10 points possible). In addition to the three major areas, schools can receive “Challenge Points” to add to their score (up to 10 points). They receive these points if they have a significant number of Economically Disadvantaged students, English Learner students and Students with Disabilities meeting expectations. Schools can also receive points for going beyond the targets of the CCRPI by challenging students to exceed expectations and participate in college and career ready programs.

Scores on the 2015 CCRPI report were expected to decrease due to multiple, major changes in the instrument, including weighting content mastery, recalculating performance targets, and more. The state implemented a brand new assessment system for students during the 2014-2015 school year. As a result, the 2015 CCRPI report cannot be compared to the 2014 report.

“It’s unfortunate that we are only now receiving the CCRPI report for the 2014-2015 school year,” said Samantha Fuhrey, superintendent of Newton County Schools. “The CCRPI report for the 2013-2014 school year was not released publicly until December 2014—six full months after that school year had ended. By that time, the students reflected in that report had moved on and completed half of their next school year. It’s been 17 months since that CCRPI report was released and now, at the very end of the 2015-2016 school year, we are finally receiving the results of the previous school year. The students in this report have completed their entire next grade level and are about to move on yet again. These results are of little use to us. They cannot be compared to the 2013-2014 results because the state changed the CCRPI formulas and indicators once again. Students reflected in this report have basically moved on– not one, but two grade levels. A student in third grade during the 2014-2015 school year is now within fifteen school days of completing fourth grade and moving on to fifth grade. And a student in eleventh grade when these data were collected has almost completed twelfth grade and will graduate later this month. How is the release of this data supposed to help the students or schools when it is so outdated? We ought to expect better for our kids. The CCRPI has not measured the same thing since its inception in 2012; not once since the state developed the CCRPI has the criteria, formulas, indicators, and/or calculations remained the same. Our students, teachers, and leaders have been working extremely hard to meet the state’s standards but it is very hard to do when they continually move the target. To then release the data so late, rendering it useless for the current school year, just adds insult to injury. We can do better for our kids, and we should expect better for our kids!”

Newton County School System’s (NCSS’s) College & Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) Results for the 2014-2015 school year are as follows: