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Published Friday, October 29, 2010 in Local

Photo by Elizabeth Melville

Among classes observed at Smokey Road Middle School as part of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education’s bus tour stop was the six grade band class — unique because it utilizes a co-teach model to facilitate the large class size and increase the differentiation of instruction for varying skill levels. The class is led by Josh Boyd, at left, and Joel Satterfield, back.

Georgia Partnership salutes Smokey Road Middle School

By Elizabeth Melville

The Newnan Times-Herald

When it comes to excellence in education, Smokey Road Middle School must be doing something right.

On Thursday, more than 70 education stakeholders representing business, government, education and citizen groups around the state honored the Coweta County middle school for its achievements, while attempting to glean insight into the educators' methods of success to share with the rest of the state.

Smokey Road was the last of seven stops visited during the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education's 18th annual "Bus Trip Across Georgia."

Participants enjoyed an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts where they were greeted by local educational and civic officials. Afterward, they toured Smokey Road Middle School from 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Smokey Road was selected as one of the seven schools because of "its reputation for outstanding results," according to Steve Dolinger, the president of the partnership.

"They outperform the state in most tests on most grade levels," said Dolinger.

The selection committee was particularly impressed by Smokey Road's flexible student schedules and integration of technology. After all, the theme of this year's bus ride was "greater flexibility, greater focus on results." Dolinger said the purpose of the annual bus ride is to honor achieving schools and give education stakeholders a chance to see what is working in these schools and replicate these best practices in their own school systems.

Principal Laurie Barron said Smokey Road was nominated to apply for this recognition following a visit from then-State School Superintendent Kathy Cox last March. Soon after they applied, they learned that they were one of the seven schools statewide selected to participate in the event. To top it off, Smokey Road was the only "traditional" school selected -- the others were charter schools, academies, etc.

"We met what they were looking for," said Barron.

Smokey Road, which has an enrollment of 837 students, has the highest percentage of full academic year students accountable under federal No Child Left Behind guidelines in the entire school system for the subgroups of Black, Students with Disabilities and Economically Disadvantaged students.

Their mission is to strive to reach and motivate students by ensuring that students attend school, are in a safe environment, feel valued as individuals and learn the appropriate curriculum for future success. They don't believe in one-size fits all. They intentionally seek ways to build relationships with students so they feel valued as individuals, according to Barron.

Despite being "traditional" in that they serve students in grades 6 through 8 who live in their designated attendance zone, they "take great pride in using every bit of flexibility possible to help close the achievement gap among subgroups, and to increase achievement for every student."

They use federal Title I funding and funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to better meet the needs of their students with disabilities.

On Thursday, the education partnership visited six of Smokey Road's classrooms, including three different types of math classes, two different types of literature or reading classes, and one of their connections classes.

Some highlights of the tour were a three-teacher math class designed to address the needs of any student in danger of not performing on grade level for math. In one classroom, a regular education math teacher, a special education math teacher and a Title I Math Instructional Coach provide instruction in a co-teach setting, reducing the student-to-teacher ratio to provide more individualized instruction.

Struggling students can receive additional classroom instructional time in math or reading.

All classrooms, including the band room, have Smart Boards to utilize current technology.

The beginning 6th grade band class also uses a co-teach model to facilitate the large class size and increase the differentiation of instruction for the varying skill levels in beginning band.

Attendees remarked at the end of their visit that they'd "saved the best for last," and many planned to share the information they'd learned to make Georgia more competitive in education.

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