Based on new reports issued by the state, seven Fulton County Schools (FCS) schools have demonstrated significant improvement and earned their exit from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) needs improvement lists. On Monday, GaDOE released its 2022-2023 lists of schools identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) and Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) along with the list of schools that made the improvement needed to be removed from the CSI and TSI status. Despite the learning gap resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, FCS was able to see improvements with several schools and, specifically, within subsets of students due to the investment of resources to support them. The district has employed intentional mitigation programs, which consist of extensive instructional support and monitoring. Many of these programs began before the pandemic and were augmented by FCS's Bridge to Success program, funded by the American Rescue Plan stimulus package.

"We celebrate the progress these schools have made. The data reveals the positive trend resulting from the hard work of our students and teachers," said FCS Superintendent Mike Looney. "We remain focused on our goals to ensure this forward movement in the years to come."

CSI schools are targeted for support when they score within the lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools in the state when ranked according to their three-year College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) average or when they have a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate less than or equal to 67%. TSI schools are those that include any subgroup in the lowest 5% of all schools in half of the CCRPI components. Promise schools are the 5-10% lowest performing Title I schools in the state when ranked based on their three-year CCRPI average. CSI and Promise schools are only Title I schools and are included when they are in the lowest 10% of Content Mastery.

The combined CSI, TSI and Promise School lists* that include Fulton schools has decreased from eight in 2018 to five in 2022. They include College Park Elementary (CSI) and Hamilton Holmes, Love T. Nolan elementary schools, Bear Creek Middle School and Tri-Cities High School (TSI). No FCS schools remained on the Promise School List.

"We continue to provide support to our school community in our commitment to excellence," said FCS Board of Education President Julia Bernath. "This demonstration of progress in these schools is a testament to the collaboration across the district.

* The one school identified on the current school list was McClarin High School, an alternative school, which is currently in transition from the previous structure to a Middle College and currently has no students.

**Alternative school, Independence High School, and charter school, Skyview High School, were identified as CSI schools, and RISE Grammar and RISE Prep were identified as TSI schools. It should be noted that Hapeville Charter Middle School is now closed.