Foundation to Honor Georgia's 44 “No Excuses” Schools

Atlanta – Forty-four schools from across Georgia will be announced as "No Excuses" schools at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, at a news conference by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation at Gainesville's Fair Street International Baccalaureate World School (695 Fair Street, Gainesville, GA 30501-4699).

Fair Street International Baccalaureate World School was selected for the announcement because of the school's outstanding student achievement. Ranked in the Foundation's 2009 Report Card for Parents released Wednesday as 103 in the state overall for achievement out of 1,201 elementary schools, the Gainesville City school is a leader among the No Excuses schools – schools that have above-average percentages of low-income students with significantly higher academic scores than statistical projections.

Fair Street's enrollment of 626 students in pre-K through fifth grade comprises 68 percent Latino, 25 percent African-American and 7 percent other students, with 95 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

The selection of No Excuses schools is based on the Foundation's 2009 Report Card for Parents, available at www.gppf.org. A No Excuses school has a poverty rate above the state average of 51 percent, meets Adequate Yearly Progress as defined by the No Child Left Behind law, and has a Poverty Indicator of 2 or above on the Foundation's Report Card for Parents. These schools are highlighted for demonstrating the impact of highly motivated, highly qualified, dedicated teachers, dynamic school leadership and high expectations for all students.

The 2009 Report Card for Parents numerically ranks 1,208 public elementary schools, 501 middle schools and 354 high schools in the state by an achievement score based on the percentage of students meeting and exceeding standards and high school graduation rates. Because there is a strong link between poverty and test scores (the higher the poverty rate, the lower the test scores), the report includes two other criteria for information purposes only. The first is the poverty rate – the percentage of students in each school who qualify for the federal free/reduced-price lunch program. The second is a poverty index that measures how well a school is performing relative to its poverty rate.

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation, formed in 1991, is a nonpartisan, member-supported research and education foundation that promotes free markets, limited government and individual responsibility.

Media: For more information on the No Excuses schools or the 2009 Report Card, please contact Kelly McCutchen at 404-256-4050 or kmccutchen@gppf.org.