MHS, MMS Named 'Focus' Schools

and were designated as "focus" schools by the Georgia Department of Education Tuesday and will receive additional state funding to boost student achievement. 

The new designation, which applies to 156 schools around the state, was required as part of the state's recent waiver from certain No Child Left Behind mandates. 

The announcement comes on the heels of the state’s designation last week of 78 “priority” schools, the lowest-performing 5 percent. Focus schools represent the next 10 percent in achievement.

According to the Georgia DOE, was placed on the focus school list because of large performance gaps between their highest- and lowest-achieving student subgroups. was placed on the list because of its graduation rate.

Marietta High School . Its to 85.8. The 88.4 percent graduation rate for black students and 89.9 percent graduation rate for white students narrowed the gap to an unprecedented 1.5 percent.

met 1 mark by not meeting the English Language Arts requirements in a single student subgroup area in the 2010-2011 school year.

The new designation calls for direct state assistance for the next three years to close the gaps, including tutoring for students and professional development for teachers and staff that the AJC reported could begin as early as June. 

The full list of Georgia schools on the focus list can be found here.