Lake Oconee Academy Executive Director Dr. Brad Bowling has assembled an instructional leadership team that took center stage at the Board of Governors Sept. 9 meeting.
Barely containing their excitement, each team member presented student achievement scores from last year’s Georgia Milestones testing. By all indicators, LOA has surpassed the state average in nearly every subject, including English, science, and social studies.
According to Bowling, the team’s primary responsibility is implementing LOA’s continuous improvement model at the school. They are tasked with providing input on school-level decisions and operational plans that are implemented at all grade levels.
“We are always in this continuous school improvement cycle,” Bowling said. “It is meant to collectively set goals, identify ways to improve, and evaluate change. I am proud of the team and want to take some time here to celebrate our successes.”
Bowling’s team includes Dr. Beverly Montgomery, high school principal; Jerante Smith, middle school principal; Katelyn Mellow, lower school principal; Chrishandra Perkins, coordinator of assessment and accountability; Danna Seigle, high school math and science instructional coordinator; Caroline St. John, high school humanities instructional coordinator; Carina Baxley, middle school instructional coordinator; Mackenzie Kelly, lower school instructional coordinator; Kelly Rogers, coordinator of instruction; Eric Harper, instructional technology specialist; and John Noto, college and career coordinator.
According to the team, Georgia Milestones is a comprehensive summative assessment program that spans all three levels of the state’s educational system—elementary, middle, and high school.
The Milestones are designed to identify students’ preparedness for the next level, grade, course, or endeavor, such as attending college.
The results shared by the team include everything except math scores, which will be released by the Georgia Department of Education later due to the implementation of new standards.
According to the results, the percentage of students on grade level or higher at LOA exceeded the state average for every grade level. Except for eighth-grade science, all content areas exceeded the state average in the percentage of students performing at the proficient and distinguished achievement levels.
The high school end-of-course pass rate, defined as 70 percent or higher, included American literature and U.S. history at 93 percent and biology at 94 percent, respectively.
Students also scored well in reading. Of the 96 students in third grade at LOA, three-fourths were proficient in reading and on grade level. Seventy percent of fourth graders and 76 percent of sixth graders also tested at grade level.
Twenty-one percent of eighth graders scored proficient learner status, and five percent were distinguished learners, the highest achievement possible.
The instructional leadership team also shared the 2023 PSAT and AP testing results.
Twenty-three students took the more rigorous PSAT exam last year and scored a mean average of 1,081, out of 1,600 total possible points. Reading scored at 566, writing at 566, and math at 516, with 800 being the highest possible score for each section.
LOA currently has 125 students taking college-level AP courses. Of the 23 AP courses offered, 10 courses had a 100% pass rate, and 16 other courses had a pass rate that met or exceeded the national pass rate.
AP U.S. government, microeconomics, and calculus were identified as three subjects testing below average but improving statistically every year.