gtown-high-school-20161129_093621By Wayne Gates –

The Georgetown School District and Eastern Middle School have both been recognized by the Ohio Department of Education.
Both received the “2016  Momentum Award”, which means that student academic growth was above average in all groups.
“This is big for us.  Our people are now affirmed that the work they do day in and day out is paying off.  I’m extremely proud of everyone on our staff,” said Georgetown Superintendent Christopher Burrows.
“We are very pleased… and especially proud that Eastern Middle School’s value added composite score ranked 24th out of over 3,000 schools in the state of Ohio,” said Eastern Middle School Principal Jordan Michael.
“I am very proud of the Eastern Middle School students, staff, and community stakeholders. I believe this award says a lot about the hard work put in by a lot of special people. It speaks volumes for the EMS students, staff, and also those teachers at the lower grade levels in our district that have such a large thumb print on every student that comes to us at the middle school level. We are excited to continue setting the achievement bar high and keep moving forward each year, as each school year is an opportunity to positively affect young lives.”
Only 54 out of 650 school districts received the award.
“In order to receive the Momentum Award, districts had to have straight A’s in the academic growth categories,” he said.
Those categories include gifted students, the lowest twenty percent in academic achievement and students with disabilities.
“If a school district receives a C on their growth report card, that means that they grew achievement for their kids at the expected level for one year of instruction.  Anything above a C is progress in achievement for those students beyond what is expected from them in one year’s time,” Burrows said.
He added that he was very pleased with the work that his staff has put in to achieve the academic growth recognized by the state.
“When you are in a district like Georgetown where 60 percent of our kids are disadvantaged and 14 percent have disabilities, you have to grow those kids more than a year in a years worth of instruction if they are ever going to achieve  academic indicator goals.”