The American Lung Association and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presents staff at Murdock Elementary School with the Platinum Award for asthma-friendly schools. (Pictured from Left to Right): Heidi LeSane, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representative; Virginia Armour, student support administrator; David Banks, Cobb County School District (CCSD) Board Member for Post 5; Robin Lattizori, CCSD Assistant Superintendent; Susan Murphy, Murdock registered nurse (RN); Principal Lynn Hamblett; and Ateya Harbin Wilson, a representative of the American Lung Association of Georgia.
Press release:
The American Lung Association and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently presented the Platinum Award to Murdock Elementary School for making asthma-friendly school strides during the 2017-2018 school year.
Murdock is the only school in Georgia to earn the highest recognition given to schools that implement a comprehensive approach to asthma management. The award also included $1,500 for Murdock to continue efforts to plan and execute other asthma-friendly efforts.
“I would like to thank the American Lung Association in Georgia (ALAG) for selecting Murdock Elementary School to receive the Platinum Recognition award. The proposal submitted was very close to my heart as it impacts so many asthmatic children in our school community and their families,” said Susan Murphy, Murdock’s registered nurse (RN). “This award will help facilitate our future endeavor to establish asthma education and awareness as a number one priority.”
More information about the American Lung Association’s Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative is available here.
The Georgia Department of Public Health designated the Cobb County School District as Georgia’s first Asthma-Friendly School District in 2016.
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CCRPI scores at Timber Ridge Elementary are up almost 18 points from 2015.
Seven East Cobb schools surpassed the maximum scores in the latest CCRPI test results released Thursday by the Cobb County School District.
The CCRPI—which stands for College and Career Ready Performance Index—is a state accountability measure that gauges overall achievement results and how schools are preparing students for the next level of education.
The CCRPI is formulated on a 100-point scale as follows:
Student progress totaling 40 percent (Milestones results from year to year);
The remaining 10 percent related to closing the achievement gap (between the 25 percent lowest-performing students in a school or district compared to all Georgia students).
At the elementary school level, Timber Ridge (100.5), Murdock and Sope Creek (100.3 each) led all of Cobb, earning what’s referred to as “challenge” points in such categories as improved results among subgroups of students and innovative measures at a school, the so-called Exceeding the Bar (ETB) score.
Three Cobb middle schools, all in East Cobb, also exceeded the 100 mark: Dickerson (103), Dodgen (101) and Hightower Trail (101.5).
At the high school level, Walton’s score of 101.1 led the county as well. The high school achievement score includes graduation rates.
Cobb’s overall CCRPI score of 82.9 was higher than the statewide average of 75. For the high-scoring schools in East Cobb, those results were among the best in Georgia.
Timber Ridge’s score of 100.5 not only was a gain of 5.8 percent from 2016, but it’s one of the highest in the state (Lake Windward, in north Fulton County, topped out at 104.5). Timber Ridge scored 47.1 on achievement, a perfect 40 in progress, and earned 3.4 challenge points.
In a statement, Jeffrey Castle, the Timber Ridge principal, attributed his school’s results to “a supportive parent community, engaged students and motivated, highly-capable teachers who have the education of the whole child as their main priority.
“Our focus last year was on progress, with implementation of computer-based reading intervention programs, and on intentional delivery of rigorous instruction and congruency among curriculum, assessments and instruction.”
All but two of the 21 East Cobb elementary schools had higher scores than 2016, but the drops by Kincaid and Sedalia Park were slight.
The biggest jump was at Powers Ferry, with a score of 72.3 representing a 14.5 percent increase from a year ago, the fourth largest boost among Cobb elementary schools.
Although the achievement score at Powers Ferry was 26 and its progress was at 37, the school reported a score of 8.3 (out of 10) in closing the achievement gap.
In a release, Cobb schools said that measuring year-to-year progress in 2017 is not exact because of some minor changes to how the CCRPI is formulated. At all levels, science and social studies were removed as indicators in the progress and achievement gap categories.
Elementary Schools
2017 Score
Change from 2016
All of Cobb ES
80.5
+4.8
Addison
93.0
+5.3
Bells Ferry
89.3
+7.5
Blackwell
86.2
+6.8
Brumby
67.8
+7.1
Davis
87.5
+2.4
East Side
96.3
+4.5
Eastvalley
93.5
+5.8
Garrison Mill
96.8
+1.5
Keheley
88.7
+2.6
Kincaid
89.9
-0.9
Mt. Bethel
96.4
+1.4
Mountain View
99.7
+7.8
Murdock
100.3
+6.2
Nicholson
88.5
+11.2
Powers Ferry
72.3
+14.5
Rocky Mount
97.4
+5.0
Sedalia Park
68.9
-0.1
Shallowford Falls
88.0
+1.0
Sope Creek
100.3
+6.1
Timber Ridge
100.5
+5.8
Tritt
96.8
+6.0
Middle Schools
2017 Score
Change from 2016
All of Cobb MS
82.0
+2.2
Daniell
77.9
-2.1
Dickerson
103.0
+4.3
Dodgen
101.0
+1.4
East Cobb
79.2
+3.6
Hightower Trail
100.5
+2.9
Mabry
91.3
0.0
McCleskey
82.5
-0.3
Simpson
89.9
+3.2
High Schools
2017 Score
Change from 2016
All of Cobb HS
87.3
-0.9
Kell
85.8
-6.4
Lassiter
99.9
0.7
Pope
92.9
-6.5
Sprayberry
86.7
-2.0
Walton
101.2
-1.2
Wheeler
90.3
+1.7
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The original Walton High School building stands empty, with a new classroom facility having just opened.
Tearing down the old building, which opened in 1975, is needed to complete the Walton rebuilding project, making room for a new gymnasium and fine arts building.
A proposed demolition contract is on the Thursday agenda for the Cobb Board of Education, which is holding its monthly work session (from 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) and business meeting (beginning at 7 p.m.) on the same day due to the upcoming fall break the week of Sept. 25-29.
School officials have received a low bid of $3.584 million from Triad Construction Co. of College Park and are recommending board approval (pages 35-36 of agenda) of the Walton demolition.
The new Walton gym and fine arts components, which are expected to be completed in 2019, represent the final part of the $48 million Walton rebuild, which was approved by Cobb voters in 2013 in the Cobb Ed-SPLOST IV referendum.
Also on Thursday’s agenda, the school board will consider approving construction easements at two East Cobb elementary schools:
The new Brumby Elementary School, to be located on Terrell Mill Road, totaling 2,363 square feet, for new curbing, gutters and sidewalks to the entrance (pages 30 & 32 of agenda);
Murdock Elementary School, 2320 Murdock Road, totaling 9,500 square feet, at the request of Georgia Power Co. to provide electricity to a new portable classroom (pages 30 & 34 of agenda).
At the 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, the Cobb school board also will recognize Walton’s girls state tennis championship team, Georgia Art Education Association teacher honorees Kerri Waller of Simpson Middle School and Kathleen Petka of Walton and the CCSD high school-level classified employee of the Year, Alice Brown of Lassiter High School (previous East Cobb News posts here and here).
The Cobb school board meetings take place in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St. They are shown live on Comcast Channel 24 and CHARTER Channel 182 and streamed live on Cobb edTV (more viewing details here).
