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ALBANY – Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods made a visit to Albany Monday to honor eight Dougherty County School System schools as statewide Literacy and Math Leaders.

These honors recognize student growth and proficiency, highlighting one of DCSS’ key initiatives in its Strategic Plan: early literacy, for which DCSS reported a 41% increase in overall student literacy since 2021.

DCSS Superintendent Kenneth Dyer called the recognition a testament to the hard work paying off within DCSS schools.

Woods said it’s gratifying to see growth in this part of the state – rural and south Georgia.

“We want to make sure Dougherty County continues to be the leader of this part of the state, and be the role model for all the other communities and counties around it,” Woods said.

Woods, who attended multiple schools in the DCSS system, including Dougherty Comprehensive High School, where the ceremony was held, said recognizing the eight schools Monday felt like “coming home.” He said this progress communicates that Dougherty is “the place to go.”

“At the end of the day, when we look at education, education is economic development,” he said. “I assure you businesses and industries are looking at what’s going on in the schools. This is a great day for Dougherty County.”

To qualify as a Literacy or Math Leader, 90% or more of students had to score proficient or above on the Georgia Milestones Assessment, which is a series of assessments to evaluate how well students learned Georgia’s academic content standards in grades three through high school.

To be a Literacy Leader or Math Leader for growth, schools had to show at least a 15% increase of students reading at or above grade level or a 15% increase in the number of students scoring proficient or higher in tested math subjects.

This is GDOE’s second year giving out these recognitions across the state. Last year, Woods said, they started small with literacy banners for third grade. This year, GDOE expanded the recognitions to middle and high schools and to include math as well.

Lake Park Elementary School, Dougherty Comprehensive High School, Monroe Comprehensive High School and Westover Comprehensive High School were recognized as Math Leaders for growth.

International Studies Elementary Charter School, Turner Elementary School and West Town Elementary School were named as Literacy Leaders. This is West Town’s second consecutive year receiving this distinction.

Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet School was recognized as both a Literacy and Math Leader for proficiency and growth. The school also earned the “outstanding” designation for its students who took high school math courses. This designation means that 98% of students in that tested area scored proficient or higher.

The eight Leaders’ scores looked like this:

Literacy Leaders

— Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet: 6th Grade Gateway Achievement (94.5% proficiency), 6th Grade Gateway Growth (+10.8), 7th Grade Achievement (96.5% proficiency), 8th Grade Achievement (96.3% proficiency)

— Turner Elementary School: 3rd Grade Gateway Growth (+18)

— International Studies Elementary Charter: 3rd Grade Gateway Growth (+10.4)

— West Town Elementary School: 3rd Grade Gateway Growth (+22.1)

Math Leaders

— Lake Park Elementary School: 3rd Grade Growth (+11.1), 5th Grade Gateway Growth (+35.4 0

— Monroe High School: High School Growth (+18.3)

— Dougherty Comprehensive High School: High School Growth (+17.1)

— Westover High School: High School Growth (+17.3)

— Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet: High School Achievement/Outstanding Achievement (100% proficiency)

Dyer said the school system has focused on progress and growth for the last couple of years. If it continues to do so, he said, proficiency numbers will in turn increase. DCSS made early literacy a priority beginning in 2018. From then until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district saw steadily rising literacy rates among elementary students.

COVID-19 took students out of classrooms into an online learning environment.

According to information presented to school board members across Georgia in 2021, Bill Daggett, a nationwide education leader, shared that data from McKinsey and Co. – a global research firm – showed that, when compared to the average academic gain during the three pre-pandemic years, students who had come through the pandemic had fallen significantly behind academically in areas such as reading and math.

Daggett presented nationwide data that showed that, on average, K-5 students had dropped to a low of 77% of academic achievement in reading from that of pre-COVID levels and as low as 37% in math.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re not going to make that up in a summer session,” Daggett told the board. “It’s going to be a multiyear journey to recapture that.”

DCSS and school leaders committed to that multiyear journey. It invested in the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, which is a research and science of reading based training for teachers to equip them with new techniques to help students learn to read.

Emily Massey, the interim director of Curriculum and Instruction at DCSS, said the introduction of the district’s Early Literacy Specialists brought an additional layer of support to schools. These trained experts have the sole purpose of making sure students are literate.

Massey said the district also created 60-plus math ambassador roles among teachers in the district after GDOE rolled out new math standards for the state last year. These “math experts” helped to unpack the new standards and create additional resources to help schools meet the standard.

She said seeing the new Math Leader recognitions shows that this investment paid off.

“I’m excited because it shows the fruits of our labor … major kudos … everyone who touches a kid here in Dougherty, they’ve given maximum support,” Massey said. “We have so many things we know we’re going to work on in the next year. I’m proud.”

Dyer said the schools also offer targeted support for students who struggle to achieve proficiency. DCSS students embrace the challenge, he said.

“There is no doubt that we still have work to do to reach our ultimate goals; but, the progress we are making is undeniable,” Dyer said. “The resilience of our students and the work being done by our teachers, administrators and support staff further reinforce our commitment to foundational literacy and numeracy.”

Staff Photo By Lucille Lannigan
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