Jackson School system appealing AYP report for JCCHS

Jackson County Comprehensive High School was one of 37 high schools in Georgia that didn’t meet AYP because it didn’t achieve the required graduation rate. And because one school failed to meet AYP, the entire Jackson County School System was labeled as failing to meet AYP.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson and Commerce city schools were two of 34 systems in Georgia in 2008 that had 100 percent of their schools meet AYP.
JCCHS
The Georgia Department of Education says JCCHS’s graduation rate was 67.4 percent in 2008, according to a report released on Friday. High schools need a graduation rate of at least 70 percent to keep off the AYP list.
Shannon Adams, superintendent of the Jackson County School System, said Friday that an appeal of the AYP status was submitted two weeks ago.
Adams said the appeal centers on the fact that JCCHS’s graduation rate includes students from East Jackson Comprehensive High School, which opened in August 2007.
The Georgia DOE grouped the graduation rate from the two county high schools for JCCHS’ AYP report, Adams said. Officially, EJCHS won’t have a graduation rate accounted for its AYP status until the fourth year after its opening.
“We have students that received the vast majority of their education at Jackson County Comprehensive High School,” Adams said. “Those students then moved to East Jackson (and) East Jackson has no graduation rate until its fourth year of existence.”
Adams said when the graduation rate for the two county high schools is done correctly, JCCHS will meet AYP. He said school officials are confident the state will approve the appeal.

For more information on the AYP of local schools, see the July 30 edition of The Jackson Herald.