College and Career Readiness: Here is what Augusta-area schools scored in 2023

Miguel Legoas, Augusta Chronicle
·8 min read

The Georgia Department of Education's College and Career Ready Performance Index measures Content Mastery, College/Career Readiness, and other important factors in Georgia schools each year. Scores are awarded for each school and school districts.

Multiple schools throughout the Augusta area were among Georgia’s best-of-the-best. Others have room to grow.

Here is a look at what Richmond, Columbia and Burke counties’ school districts scored in each category and which individual schools were among Georgia’s top and bottom performers. The rankings below are based on approximate data provided by the Georgia Department of Education and excludes schools with inconclusive figures.

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FILE - Students create posters during drama class at C.T. Walker Traditional Magnet School. The Richmond County school scored high marks in multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.
FILE - Students create posters during drama class at C.T. Walker Traditional Magnet School. The Richmond County school scored high marks in multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.

Content Mastery

Content Mastery addresses whether students are achieving at the level necessary to be prepared for the next grade, college or career. It includes achievement scores in English language arts, math, science, and social studies on Georgia Milestones and Georgia Alternate Assessment 2.0.

Georgia's Content Mastery scores averaged 64.7% in elementary schools, 60.9% in middle schools, and 65% in high schools.

Richmond County School System's elementary schools scored 37.5%, middle schools scored 32.2%, and high schools scored 31.2%.

Columbia County School District's elementary schools scored 88%, middle schools scored 75.9%, and high schools scored 75.5%.

Burke County Public Schools' elementary schools scored 48.9%, middle schools scored 40.1%, and high schools scored 50.3%.

Individual schools that scored in the top 95th percentile for Content Mastery were:

  • River Ridge Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Stevens Creek Elementary (Columbia County)

  • North Columbia Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the high 90-95% range were:

  • Davidson Fine Arts Magnet (Richmond County)

  • C.T. Walker Magnet's elementary school (Richmond County)

  • A.R. Johnson Magnet's high school (Richmond County)

  • Stallings Island Middle (Columbia County)

  • Greenbrier Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Parkway Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Riverside Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Lewiston Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Riverside Middle (Columbia County)

  • Greenbrier High (Columbia County)

  • Greenbrier Middle (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the low 5-10% range were:

  • Tutt Middle (Richmond County)

  • Belair K-8's middle school (Richmond County)

  • Diamond Lakes Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Hephzibah Middle (Richmond County)

  • Monte Sano Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Bayvale Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Westside High (Richmond County)

  • Meadowbrook Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Jamestown Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Dorothy Hains Elementary (Richmond County)

Schools that scored in the lower 5th percentile were:

  • Pine Hill Middle (Richmond County)

  • Laney High (Richmond County)

  • Wheeless Road Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Wilkinson Gardens Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Cross Creek High (Richmond County)

  • Langford Middle (Richmond County)

  • Copeland Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Terrace Manor Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Willis Foreman Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Spirit Creek Middle (Richmond County)

  • Murphey Middle (Richmond County)

  • Barton Chapel Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Hephzibah High (Richmond County)

  • Richmond Hill K-8's middle school (Richmond County)

  • Butler High (Richmond County)

  • Jenkins-White Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills Middle (Richmond County)

  • W.S. Hornsby Middle (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills High (Richmond County)

  • W.S. Hornsby Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Josey High (Richmond County)

FILE - A student works on his homework during after school care at Stevens Creek Elementary. The Columbia County school scored high marks in Readiness and Content Master the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.
FILE - A student works on his homework during after school care at Stevens Creek Elementary. The Columbia County school scored high marks in Readiness and Content Master the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.

Readiness

Readiness measures whether students are participating in activities preparing them for and demonstrating readiness for the next level, college, or career. The indicators for elementary and middle schools include literacy, student attendance, and beyond the core. High school indicators include literacy, student attendance, accelerated enrollment, pathway completion, and college and career readiness.

Georgia's Readiness scores averaged 82.3% in elementary schools, 82% in middle schools, and 71.4% in high schools.

Richmond County School System's elementary schools scored 75.2%, middle schools scored 74.6%, and high schools scored 55.8%.

Columbia County School District's elementary schools scored 89.6%, middle schools scored 87.9%, and high schools scored 78.8%.

Burke County Public Schools' elementary schools scored 79.8%, middle schools scored 78.4%, and high schools scored 68.3%.

Individual schools that scored in the top 95th percentile for Readiness were:

  • Davidson Fine Arts Magnet (Richmond County)

  • A.R. Johnson Magnet's middle school (Richmond County)

  • C.T. Walker Magnet's elementary school (Richmond County)

  • Richmond County Technical Career Magnet's middle school

  • North Columbia Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Stevens Creek Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Greenbrier Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the high 90-95% range were:

  • River Ridge Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Stallings Island Middle (Columbia County)

  • Greenbrier Middle (Columbia County)

  • Parkway Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Riverside Middle (Columbia County)

  • Riverside Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Lewiston Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the low 5-10% range were:

  • Barton Chapel Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills Middle (Richmond County)

  • Murphey Middle (Richmond County)

  • Jenkins-White Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Academy of Richmond County

  • W.S. Hornsby Elementary (Richmond County)

Schools that scored in the lower 5th percentile were:

  • Westside High (Richmond County)

  • Laney High (Richmond County)

  • Cross Creek High (Richmond County)

  • Hephzibah High (Richmond County)

  • Butler High (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills High (Richmond County)

  • Josey High (Richmond County)

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FILE - Makayla Cushman, 11, (left) and Seryah Scriven, 9, work on programming their Ozobot robots during the summer Cyber Camp at Richmond County Technical Career Magnet School in Augusta, Ga., on June 12, 2019. RCTCM scored high marks in multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.
FILE - Makayla Cushman, 11, (left) and Seryah Scriven, 9, work on programming their Ozobot robots during the summer Cyber Camp at Richmond County Technical Career Magnet School in Augusta, Ga., on June 12, 2019. RCTCM scored high marks in multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.

Progress

Progress measures how much growth students demonstrate in English language arts and math and how well students are progressing towards English language proficiency. Language arts and math indicators utilize student growth percentiles to measure how much growth students demonstrated relative to academically-similar students on Georgia Milestones and categorical growth for students on Georgia Alternate Assessment 2.0. English language proficiency measures whether students are improving within a performance band or moving up to another performance band, thus moving towards English language proficiency.

Georgia's Progress scores averaged 85.8% in elementary schools, 80.8% in middle schools, and 79.2% in high schools.

Richmond County School System's elementary schools scored 72.1%, middle schools scored 71.1%, and high schools scored 60.7%.

Columbia County School District's elementary schools scored 94%, middle schools scored 81.3%, and high schools scored 70.5%.

Burke County Public Schools' elementary schools scored 77.2%, middle schools scored 80.9%, and high schools scored 87.1%.

Individual schools that scored in the top 95th percentile for Readiness were:

  • Davidson Fine Arts Magnet's high school (Richmond County)

  • Richmond County Technical Career Magnet's high school

  • River Ridge Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the high 90-95% range were:

  • Harlem High (Columbia County)

  • Baker Place Elementary (Columbia County)

  • Cedar Ridge Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the low 5-10% range were:

  • Hephzibah Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Copeland Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Cross Creek High (Richmond County)

  • W.S. Hornsby (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills Middle (Richmond County)

  • Dorothy Hains Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Warren Road Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Lakeside High (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the lower 5th percentile were:

  • Jenkins-White Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Diamond Lakes Elementary (Richmond County)

  • McBean Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Butler High (Richmond County)

  • A.R. Johnson Magnet's high school (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills High (Richmond County)

  • Richmond Hill K-8's elementary school (Richmond County)

  • Hephzibah High (Richmond County)

  • Westside High (Richmond County)

  • Josey High (Richmond County)

  • Evans High (Columbia County)

FILE - Angelena Bennett takes a photo of her son, first-grader Joseph Bennett, and her daughter, kindergartner Jasmine Bennett, outside River Ridge Elementary on the first day of school for students. River Ridge scored high marks on multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.
FILE - Angelena Bennett takes a photo of her son, first-grader Joseph Bennett, and her daughter, kindergartner Jasmine Bennett, outside River Ridge Elementary on the first day of school for students. River Ridge scored high marks on multiple factors of the most recent version of Georgia's College and Career Ready Performance Index.

Closing Gaps

Closing Gaps sets the expectation that all students and all student subgroups make improvements in achievement rates. This component is based on CCRPI improvement targets for academic achievement, which are represented by improvement flags, and it provides an opportunity for schools to demonstrate the progress made in improving student performance among all student subgroups.

Georgia's Closing Gaps scores averaged 66.7% in elementary schools, 52.5% in middle schools, and 67.5% in high schools.

Richmond County School System's elementary schools scored 61.1%, middle schools scored 65.3%, and high schools scored 37.5%.

Columbia County School District's elementary schools scored 92.6%, middle schools scored 80.6%, and high schools scored 87.5%.

Burke County Public Schools' elementary schools scored 40.5%, middle schools scored 81.5%, and high schools scored 50%.

Individual schools that scored in the top 95th percentile for Graduation Rates were:

  • Academy of Richmond County (Richmond County)

  • Barton Chapel Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Davidson Fine Arts Magnet (Richmond County)

  • Deer Chase Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Euchee Creek Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the high 90-95% range were:

  • A.R. Johnson Magnet's high school (Richmond County)

  • Lamar-Milledge Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Meadowbrook Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Grovetown Elementary (Columbia County)

Schools that scored in the low 5-10% range were:

  • A. Brian Merry Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Warren Road Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Spirit Creek Middle (Richmond County)

Schools that scored in the lower 5th percentile were:

  • Hephzibah Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Westside High (Richmond County)

  • Bayvale Elementary (Richmond County)

  • Terrace Manor Elementary (Richmond County)

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FILE - Students in Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School's graduating class of 2023 line up to accept their diplomas at James Brown Arena in Augusta on Friday, May 26, 2023. Davidson scored high marks on multiple components of the most recent version of the Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index.
FILE - Students in Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School's graduating class of 2023 line up to accept their diplomas at James Brown Arena in Augusta on Friday, May 26, 2023. Davidson scored high marks on multiple components of the most recent version of the Georgia College and Career Ready Performance Index.

Graduation Rates

Graduation Rates measure whether students are graduating from high school with a regular diploma in four or five years. This component includes both the four- and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates and is only applicable to high schools.

Georgia's graduation rate averaged 84.9%. Richmond County's was 77.7%. Columbia County's was 91.9%. Burke County's was 86%.

Individual schools that scored in the top 95th percentile for Graduation Rates were:

  • Davidson Fine Arts Magnet (Richmond County)

  • A.R. Johnson Magnet (Richmond County)

  • Richmond County Technical Career Magnet

Schools that scored in the low 5-10% range were:

  • Butler High (Richmond County)

  • Glenn Hills High (Richmond County)

  • Josey High (Richmond County)

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta-area schools' college readiness, graduation rates, progress