Atlanta Public Schools (APS) continued to show overall improvement on the College and Career Readiness Index (CCRPI), according to the 2025 CCRPI data, released by the Georgia Department of Education.
The CCRPI includes five components: Content Mastery, Progress, Closing Gaps, Readiness, and – for high schools – Graduation Rate. APS scored 100 on the Closing Gaps component in elementary schools and improved Readiness and Content Mastery scores at all grade bands. Additionally, students with disabilities and who are economically disadvantaged made gains in 11 of 12 areas.
Principal Adam Danser details how Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School achieved its gains:
Q: What specific strategies or initiatives did your school implement that you believe contributed most to the CCRPI improvement?
A: Our CCRPI improvement is driven by intentional strategies that strengthened instruction, expanded student access, and built consistency across classrooms. Teachers used data to guide targeted support by transforming weekly advisory into standards-based review sessions aligned to recent assessments and the End-of-Course blueprint. These sessions focused on both remediation and enrichment, helping teachers close learning gaps, extend mastery, and reinforce high-leverage skills across all content areas.
A key part of this work was our intentional focus on demographics and subgroups. Teachers monitored who was in every instructional group and tracked each student’s on-track or off-track status toward the next achievement level or growth band. This included targeted support for our English Learners, ensuring they received the scaffolds and instructional moves needed to demonstrate progress.
Departments also implemented an incentives-based tracking system that boosted participation in extended learning and encouraged students to take ownership of their progress.
Together, these practices created a more responsive and supportive learning environment, contributing to measurable gains across content areas and stronger readiness for the Georgia Milestones.
Q: Can you share examples of how your teachers are driving student growth and achievement, and any practices that have been particularly effective?
A: Teachers strengthened Milestones performance and elevated daily instruction by prioritizing clarity, rigor, and student ownership. Over the year, they refined their use of direct and explicit instruction anchored in clear, measurable learning targets that guided teaching and student engagement. They also aligned formative and summative assessments to mirror the format and cognitive demand of the Milestones, ensuring students consistently practiced the types of questions and tasks needed for proficiency.
Teachers consistently used achievement level descriptor language in daily conversations and feedback, which helped students better understand their goals, track their own progress, and take greater ownership of their learning. In addition, many teachers voluntarily gave up their planning periods to work with small groups of students in targeted intervention and enrichment sessions. These personalized supports ensured that students who needed additional time, modeling, or practice received it consistently throughout the year.
Q: What is something impactful/innovative happening in the area of teaching and learning at your school that sets your school apart?
A: One of the most innovative things we do at Maynard Jackson is design learning through an equity-first, student-centered approach across all content areas. To strengthen Milestones performance, we implemented several intentional, innovative practices that moved beyond traditional remediation.
Our four-coach, content-specific model provided real-time support in biology, algebra, literature, and U.S. history. Coaches partnered with teachers to model high-impact practices, co-teach rigorous lessons, and lead targeted small-group interventions. This embedded coaching created ongoing professional learning and allowed instruction to shift immediately based on student needs.
We also launched an individualized growth model that helped students understand their data, monitor their achievement band, and set meaningful goals. Teachers used this information to tailor small-group support, increasing student agency and ownership.
Finally, we strengthened interventions through a flexible, multi-layered system that included in-class reteaching, structured advisory review blocks, and additional small-group sessions offered by teachers. Assessments were redesigned to mirror Milestones rigor and format, giving students consistent practice with the skills and tasks required for proficiency.
Q: What are your hopes or expectations for student achievement moving forward, and how do you plan to build on this recent success?
A: Moving forward, our goal is to continue growing. Our recent success shows what is possible when everyone moves with intentionality and keeps students at the center. We will continue to strengthen core instructional practices, clear modeling, guided practice, and small-group support, and utilize consistent reflection to drive continuous improvement. Our Professional Learning Community will remain focused on data analysis, identifying high-leverage skills, and ensuring instruction aligns to the needs of all learners.
To build on the gains demonstrated across all student subgroups, we will deepen equitable instructional practices and expand targeted supports. This includes increasing co-teaching, modeling, and small-group intervention sessions within our subject-specific coaching model to accelerate growth for Students with Disabilities, English Learners, and Economically Disadvantaged students.
We will also strengthen mastery-based progress monitoring so students receive individualized growth plans, timely feedback, and embedded opportunities for reteach. Enhanced assessment alignment will help teachers identify subgroup trends and adjust instruction accordingly.
Finally, we will continue building strong family partnerships by providing clear information about achievement expectations and growth, particularly for families of students in our targeted subgroups.
