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State honors 10 schools from district
Riverwatch Middle leads way with seven awards
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Forsyth County News
At a glance

Forsyth County school system honorees include the following:

Achievement

Elementary schools
Big Creek: math, third grade
Johns Creek: math, second grade
Mashburn: math, fourth grade
Sharon: reading, first grade; math, second-fourth grades

Middle schools
Liberty: math and science, eighth grade
Riverwatch: reading, sixth-eighth grades; language arts, sixth grade; math, seventh and eighth grades; social studies, eighth grade
South Forsyth: reading, sixth grade; language arts, sixth grade; math, sixth and eighth grades
Vickery Creek: math, seventh grade

High schools
South Forsyth: economics, end of course test
 
Improvement

The schools in each honored subject area that had the greatest improvement in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards.
Forsyth Academy: biology, end of course test
At the end of last school year, Riverwatch Middle invited families over for ice cream to celebrate students’ high test scores.

“We definitely have some more celebrations now,” said Principal Kathy Carpenter after hearing her school received seven of the district’s 23 state Distinguished Achievement Awards.

“We knew we got great results once we got the CRCTs back, but it’s really nice to see the teachers’ and the students’ efforts rewarded by the state superintendent.”

All 10 local schools that received an award posted the highest achievement or the greatest gains on state tests, broken down by subject and grade.

Riverwatch and South Forsyth middle schools and Sharon Elementary were recognized the most often for having the highest number of students exceed state standards.

The awards were based on results from the End of Course, Georgia High School Graduation, state writing and Criterion Referenced Competency tests.

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox said in a statement that the awards were “just a small way of saying thank you for the hard work put in by our teachers, students and school communities.”

Riverwatch had the highest achievement in sixth-grade reading and language arts, seventh-grade reading and math, and eighth-grade reading, social studies and math.

“What’s exciting about the superintendent awards was that so many of our groups across our staff have been awarded, and it shows a focused effort can make a big impact to students no matter what the subject entails,” Carpenter said.

“So that’s what’s powerful about our work, is that it can cross all areas.”

Forsyth Academy was the only school in the system to be honored for improvement, or the increase in students meeting and exceeding standards.
The alternative high school was honored for the end of course test in biology.

Forsyth School Superintendent Buster Evans said “our community has high expectations of excellence.”

“Our schools are delivering with the highest level of performance and achievement,” he said.