The federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) law holds public schools accountable for student performance and for providing parents with options when schools do not meet high academic standards. In addition, the law provides that students who attend any school that has been designated under the law as persistently dangerous may transfer to another public school. Students who have been a victim of violent crime at school also are eligible to transfer.

Georgia's Flexibility Waiver:
The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) submitted to the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) an application requesting flexibility through waivers of ten Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requirements and their associated, regulatory, administrative and reporting requirements. On February 9, 2012, Georgia's Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) Flexibility Waiver was approved by the US ED. Two of the ten requested waivers directly affected Supplemental Educational Services (SES) and Public School Choice (Choice). The waiver allows for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) greater flexibility in designing a Flexible Learning Program (FLP) tailored to the needs of their school and will have the capacity to serve more students in need for additional academic support.

Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, the GaDOE will transition from Needs Improvement (NI) distinctions based to Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports to Reward, Priority, Focus and Alert School distinctions based on the ESEA Flexibility Waiver formulas. Title I schools will now implement specific programs and interventions based on Reward, Priority, Focus and Alert Schools status. In addition, the GaDOE ESEA Flexibility Waiver outlines Georgia's new Single Statewide Accountability System, the College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI). The CCRPI will serve as a comprehensive report card for all schools in Georgia.

Title I schools not making adequate yearly progress (AYP) will transition from AYP to ESEA Flexibility Waiver formulas and may be identified as a Priority School or Focus School. Priority Schools and Focus Schools will be required to develop and implement the Flexible Learning Programs (FLP) beginning June 2012; if they meet one of the criteria set forth in the ESEA waiver as described below.

 Please note: Priority Schools and Focus Schools will be identified and served with support interventions for 3 years.

Rewards Schools-Title I Schools- 10 percent of Title I Schools- Highest Performing percent of Title I Schools and Highest Progress Title I Schools

Reward Schools' designations will replace Distinguished Schools and Distinguished Districts designations. Reward Schools will be identified annually. There are two ways a Title I school may be identified as a Reward School. A Title I school may be classified as either a Highest-Performing School or a High-Progress School.

Priority Schools- Title I Students Eligibility- 5 percent of Title I Schools- Lowest Achieving Title I Schools

Priority Schools will be identified every three years and the identified school will be served for 3 years through a Flexible Learning Program (FLP) support interventions. These Title I schools are among the lowest five percent of Title I schools in the state based on the achievement of the All Student group in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessments and has demonstrated a lack of progress on those assessments over a number of years in the All Students group; are Title I- participating or Title I-eligible high school with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over a number of years; or a Tier I or Tier II school under the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program that is using SIG funds to implement a school intervention model years.

Focus Schools- Title I Student Eligibility- 10 percent of Title I Schools

Focus Schools will be identified every three years and the identified school will be served for 3 years through Flexible Learning Program (FLP) support interventions. These schools ae Title I schools that have the largest within- school gaps between the highest-achieving subgroup or subgroups and the lowest-achieving subgroup or subgroups or, at the high school level, has the largest within-school gaps in graduation rates ( within-school-gaps Focus School) are Title I high schools with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over a number of years that is not identified as a Priority School (low-graduation-rate Focus School).

Title I Alert Schools Based on 9 ESEA Subgroups- (does not include Priority Schools or Focus Schools).

Title I, Alert Schools will be identified annually. These schools are both Title I and non- Title I schools that fall into one of the three following categories using ESEA disaggregated subgroups or subject performance on both statewide assessments and graduation rate: Graduation Alert, Subgroup Alert or Subject Alert.

Houston County has four Title I Focus Schools and one non-Title Alert School:
-Huntington Middle School (Focus School)
-Northside High School (Focus School)
-Perry High School (Focus School)
-Westside Elementary School (Focus School)
-Watson Center: Middle Grades at Crossroads Alternative Program (Alert School)