Three Rockdale County schools named among Georgia’s Literacy, Math Leaders

CONYERS, GA– The Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) has released CCRPI (College and Career Readiness Performance Index) data, and three Rockdale County schools are among those distinguished as Literacy and Math Leader Schools. 

Lorraine Elementary and D.L. Sims Elementary were both named Literacy Leader Schools for 3rd Grade Gateway Growth, while Memorial Middle School was named a Math Leader for High School Growth

These statewide Literacy Leader and Math Leader distinctions celebrate schools that demonstrate extraordinary student progress and proficiency. Schools are recognized for achievement, growth, or both on annual end-of-grade or end-of-course Milestones assessments. The criteria recognize the crucial importance of grade-level reading in third and sixth grades and numeracy skills in fifth and eighth grades and require higher growth from schools with lower achievement levels.

“Congratulations to Lorraine Elementary, Sims Elementary, and Memorial Middle School,” said Rockdale County Board of Education Chairwoman Sandra Jackson-Lett. “They deserve to be recognized for the improvements they have achieved and for leading the way for others to follow.”

“We celebrate our schools being named Literacy and Math Leaders,” said Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) Superintendent Shirley Chesser. “These designations are the result of the ongoing hard work of our students and staff. Our commitment to continuous improvement is unwavering, and we have taken steps towards stronger outcomes across the board. We acknowledge our opportunities for growth in our CCRPI data. Our proactive approach began last spring by investing in targeted professional development, refining instructional strategies, and deepening our data-informed practices to ensure every student thrives.”

The CCRPI data is based on the Georgia Milestones Assessments administered last spring. RCPS showed gains within the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The CCRPI components consist of Content Mastery, Progress, Closing Gaps, Readiness, and Graduation Rate for high schools.

At the elementary school level, RCPS improved in the Reading Readiness component over last year. Middle schools increased in Closing Gaps* and Readiness and held steady in Content Mastery with less than one percentage point difference. For high schools, gains were made in Readiness and Graduation Rate. The RCPS 2025 Four-Year Cohort Graduation Rate of 89.52% is the highest ever recorded since the state adopted the federal cohort calculation method in 2012. 

The Georgia Department of Education provided additional context about recent updates to CCRPI accountability system.

The CCRPI no longer includes an overall, 0-100 score for schools, districts, or the state. As part of these changes, the CCRPI no longer reports a single, overall 0-100 score for schools, districts, or the state. This shift—first introduced in 2022 through a U.S. Department of Education addendum and made permanent in 2025 through an amendment to Georgia’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan—reflects a broader effort to improve transparency.

Instead of one composite number, each CCRPI component now stands on its own with an individual 0-100 score: Content Mastery, Progress, Closing Gaps, Readiness, and, for high schools, Graduation Rate. The change was made to increase transparency and provide a more complete picture of school performance, ensuring that challenges and opportunities are not hidden behind a single score.

Legislation passed in 2024 requires the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) to calculate a single score for schools and districts, and for GaDOE and local school districts to publish these scores online. GaDOE will publish GOSA single scores as soon as they are available.

While RCPS reports gains in Closing Gaps, the Closing Gaps component is not comparable between 2023 and 2024, because the 2024 component does not include mathematics scores, since math assessments were updated to align with the new K-12 Mathematics Standards first implemented during the 2023-24 school year.

About the CCRPI

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.

The CCRPI measures school, district, and state performance on five components:

• Content Mastery includes student scores on statewide assessments in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
• Progress measures how much growth students demonstrate in English language arts and mathematics and how well English learners are progressing toward English language proficiency. 
• Closing Gaps measures how well schools meet annual improvement targets for student subgroups.
• Readiness includes literacy scores; student attendance; the percentage of students succeeding in “beyond the core” instruction; accelerated enrollment; pathway completion; and measures of college and career readiness. 
• Graduation Rate includes both the 4- and 5-year graduation rate and is a component for high schools.