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No Child Left Behind The Cobb County School District continues to adjust its instructional programs to ensure it can meet the strict standards established by the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. The law requires individual schools, and the District as a whole, to meet specific measures of progress on standardized tests each year. In addition, individual groups of students, as defined by ethnicity, language and disability, must also meet these measures. According to the annual Adequate Yearly Progress report published by the Georgia Department of Education, each individual school and the District as a whole showed progress in 2006. Results for subgroups of students, however, showed mixed progress that resulted in the District being labeled Needs Improvement. Hispanic students showed strong improvement, but high school math performance for Black students and Students With Disabilities did not meet expectations. A District-wide instructional plan developed last year has been modified to include these subgroups of students and to take a more systematic approach to improving academic performance. The District improvement plan is available for download in PDF format. The good news for No Child Left Behind is that two schools completely cleared the Needs Improvement list in 2006. The greater concern, however, is that four schools advanced to Corrective Action status. In response, the District has developed Corrective Action Plans for each school. These plans focus on helping the schools more clearly identify areas where change is needed and will then provide resources and central office assistance to support the change efforts. A critical part of each plan is continuous monitoring of student performance by teachers and administrators.

Advanced Placement Certified Schools
In January 2004, the Cobb County School District launched the Advanced Placement Certified Schools (APCS) initiative. This program provides recognition to schools that collect, analyze, and act on data to improve AP and pre-AP teacher preparation; provide AP counseling; and increase student access, support, and participation in AP courses and other higher-level coursework. In its inaugural year the initiative was supported by a grant from the GE Foundation.

This year, 11 high schools met the required criteria for inclusion in the program.Harrison, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry and Walton high schools earned the highest-tier Demonstration Level status. Campbell, North Cobb, Osborne and Wheeler high schools earned Certified Level designation, while Kell High attained first-year Affiliate Level status.

For the first time, the District recognized the work of Cobb’s middle schools by awarding Middle School Affiliate designations. Lindley, Campbell, Dickerson, Dodgen, Hightower Trail, Daniell, Palmer, Awtrey, Durham and Cooper middle schools met specified APCS criteria and work closely with their high schools to build AP participation will receive Affiliate status.

English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program and the International Welcome Center
English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is a state-funded program in which students from non-English speaking backgrounds are provided special English language instruction. All students enrolling in the Cobb County School District are asked to fill out a Home Language Survey as part of the registration process. The survey assists the District in identifying students who may not yet be able to participate with full grade level fluency in the regular classroom. Such students often score well below grade level in reading comprehension, especially if they are newly arrived non-English speakers.

Additionally, there are those students who may be able to converse satisfactorily, but are unable to read well enough to score at the 40th percentile on a standardized test of reading comprehension. Both types of students are eligible for English language instruction provided by the ESOL program.

These English Language Learner (ELL), or Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students are placed in classes in which the acquisition of the English language is the highest priority. Students are tested and placed in one of two ESOL program classifications: (1) Intensive English Language (IEL) classes or (2) ESOL Program Classes.

ELL students can continue to receive support from the ESOL program through the District’s monitoring program after exiting the primary ESOL classes. Qualifying students are monitored for a two-year period, with close attention paid to their English language acquisition and proficiency in academic courses.

The District’s International Welcome Center in Mableton supports international students and their families in a variety of ways. The center offers assistance in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, French, Haitian Creole, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and other languages as requested. Its representatives also work with schools to promote diversity and understanding among students and staff.