Media release from Rome, GA City Schools:
Every school in Rome City Schools showed growth across several areas in College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) scores released by the Georgia Department of Education today.
Districtwide, Rome City Schools’ elementary schools showed increased scores from 2024 in all four categories measured by the state. The biggest gains came in progress, upping the score from 78.3 to 88.5, and closing gaps, increasing the score from 76.5 to 90.4. The schools also showed a two-point gain in content mastery and a one-point gain in readiness. The districtwide middle school CCRPI score increased in three of the four areas measured by GaDOE. This includes all of Rome Middle School and all of the elementary schools’ sixth-grade students.
The CCRPI is Georgia’s statewide accountability measurement as required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The CCRPI assesses how well students are prepared for college and careers. It measures content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness, and graduation rate for high schools. Individual composite scores are reported on a 0 to 100 scale.
Rome City Schools continue to support high-level instruction across all grade levels with the hiring of literacy and math coaches and interventionists, as well as adopting a new curriculum. These steps continue to show tangible results for students.
Last year, RCS placed focus on the two areas of CCRPI where immediate improvement was achievable. Those two areas were progress and closing the gaps. These indicators are mostly independent of previous results as they measure yearly growth. The thinking was that if we grow students at a rate faster than statistically predicted, we would immediately see results in progress and closing gaps while also seeing the content mastery and readiness scores rise over time.
“We are super proud of the hard work and sacrifices that our teachers and students made to achieve these results. These results validate the fact that a laser focus on yearly student growth is the key to both short-term and long-term sustained success of our students and our district,” Wesley Styles, Rome City Schools Director of Strategic Improvement and Accountability, says.
Rome City Schools’ elementary schools have grades third through fifth measured on elementary CCRPI standards, while the sixth-grade students at the elementary schools are measured on middle school CCRPI standards.
Content mastery addresses whether students are achieving at the level necessary to be prepared for the next grade, college, or career. Closing gaps addresses whether all students and all student subgroups are meeting pre-set improvement targets. Progress measures how much growth individual students make compared to previous Georgia Milestone Assessments. Readiness addresses reading level, attendance, and participation beyond the core classes. Additionally, it measures advanced enrollment participation and pathway completion percentage. Graduation rate is a metric only used at the high school level and measures the four and five-year graduation rate.
Individually, Rome City Schools’ elementary schools saw many gains over the previous year. Main and West Central saw increases in all four categories for their elementary CCRPI and their middle school CCRPI scores. Anna K. Davie saw increases in three categories for grades elementary CCRPI and in all four categories for middle school CCRPI. Elm Street saw increases in all four categories for elementary CCRPI and three categories for middle school CCPRI. West End saw increases in two categories for elementary CCRPI and all four categories for middle school CCRPI. East Central saw increases in three categories for middle school CCRPI. Rome Middle School saw increases in progress and closing gaps, and Rome High School saw increases in content mastery and graduation rate, while readiness remained the same.
Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), each U.S. state is required to have a statewide accountability system that complies with federal requirements, providing information on how well schools are performing. The CCRPI meets that requirement in Georgia and satisfies requirements for school accountability in state law.
“Rome City Schools continues to see steady growth as we strengthen our academic foundation,” said Superintendent Dr. Eric L. Holland. “With the continued support from our school board and a laser-sharp focus on student engagement and teacher empowerment, we have been successful at elevating student learning across all grade levels. But the real heroes are our teachers, our students, our parents, and the leaders who show up every single day focused on growth. These CCRPI results reflect their commitment, their resilience, and their belief in what Rome City Schools can be. We are proud of this progress and even more excited about what comes next.”