By Benita Dodd

Atlanta - Seventeen schools from across Georgia were announced as "No Excuses" schools Tuesday, May 22, at a news conference by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation held at Muscogee County's Rigdon Elementary School.

The announcement was made at Rigdon Road Elementary School in Columbus because of the school's outstanding student achievement and because Rigdon Road has succeeded in appearing multiple times on the Foundation's list of No Excuses schools. These schools have above-average percentages of low-income students with significantly higher academic scores than statistical projections based on the statewide relationship between poverty and test scores.

Rigdon Road, in its seventh year of year-round school and uniform implementation, has an estimated 15-to-1 teacher-student ratio for its 220 students, according to Principal Phyllis Jones.

The selection of No Excuses schools is based on the Foundation's 2007 "Report Card for Parents," a searchable database of statistics on Georgia's public schools available at www.gppf.org.

Foundation education expert Dr. Holly Robinson described the schools as demonstrating the "impact of highly motivated, dedicated teachers, dynamic leadership, active parent and community support, and high expectations for all students."

"They prove that regardless of socioeconomic status or race, the 'no excuses' philosophy - caring about academic gains and a focus on student achievement - works," she added.

The 2007 Report Card for Parents numerically ranks 1,176 public elementary schools, 476 middle schools and 369 high schools in the state by achievement score and the percentage of students exceeding standards. 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 2007 No Excuses schools are:

Rigdon Road Elementary School (Muscogee County)
SW Laurens Elementary School (Laurens County)
White Elementary School (Atlanta Public Schools)
East Lake Elementary School (APS)
Capitol View Elementary School (APS)
Union Point Elementary School (Greene County)
Greensboro Elementary School (Greene County)
Oglethorpe Elementary School (APS)
NW Laurens Elementary School (Laurens County)
Monte Sano Elementary School (Richmond County)
Dimon Elementary School (Muscogee County)
Cascade Elementary School (APS)
Pearson Elementary School (Atkinson County)
Benning Hills Elementary School (Muscogee County)
Pepperell Primary School (Floyd County)
Screven County High School (Screven County)
Washington County High School (Washington County)

"These schools break the mold and prove that closing the achievement gap is not only possible, but is being done," said Rogers Wade, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. The 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 2007 Report Card, please contact Dr. Robinson at 404-256-4050 or hrobinson@gppf.org.