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Schools

Letter: Charter's CRCT Results Are 'Remarkable'

The school opened during the 2011-12 school year.

In its first year of operation,  exhibits remarkable results in the 2012 Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). Highlights of this year’s CRCT results:

  • 100 percent of students met and exceeded standards in seventh grade language arts
  • 99 percent met and exceeded standards in third grade reading.

“We are very proud,” principal Vanessa Suarez said. “The faculty and students worked very hard this year.”

The school, which was , outperformed the state in all areas but one. When comparing the scores to the local , Cherokee Charter Academy outperformed or tied its district counterparts nearly 80 percent of the time while remaining within 3 percentage points of the district in four of the five remaining areas. In fifth grade, Cherokee Charter Academy students achieved higher results 100 percent of the time.

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“We set the bar high for our students, they grabbed it and ran with it,” Suarez said.

When asked about the obstacles the school had to overcome last year, Local Governing Council Chair Heather Blevins said, “I don’t think any of us could have predicted we would come this far when we remember where we were this time last year.”

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SACS Accredited Cherokee Charter Academy is part of the Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) family of schools. CSUSA educational advantages include integrated technology, parental involvement expectations, student uniforms, enforced discipline policies, highly qualified and motivated staff, community focus and high academic performance. Cherokee Charter Academy will add eighth grade and plans to serve 995 students when it opens for the 2012-13 academic year on July 30.

Lyn Michaels-Carden is a member of the Georgia Charter Educational Foundation board and the mother of a Cherokee Charter Academy student.

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