All seventeen Rockdale County Title I schools have been named Georgia Title I Distinguished Schools.

The elementary schools are: C.J. Hicks, J.H. House, Pine Street, Flat Shoals, Peek’s Chapel, Shoal Creek, Sims, Barksdale, Honey Creek and Hightower Trail.

The middle schools are: Conyers, Memorial, Edwards, and Davis.

Rockdale County, Salem and Heritage high schools were also named to the list.

To be eligible for this distinction, schools must have achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) at least three years in a row. Rockdale County Public Schools made AYP for the sixth consecutive year with all schools individually making AYP as well.

Lorraine Elementary is the only RCPS school that is not a Title I school, which are schools with 35 percent or more low income/free-and-reduced-lunch students. Title I schools and are eligible to receive additional federal funds.

C.J. Hicks Elementary was awarded $14,416 in federal funds because they have been on this distinguished list for eight years.

“Our schools continue to receive this kind of significant recognition by meeting and exceeding the increased student achievement measures each year,” says RCPS Superintendent Dr. Samuel King. “We congratulate our teachers, students, parents, and administrators for their persistence in excellence in education so that each child is prepared to pursue the future of his or her choice.”

"With the academic bar increasing each year, it is not easy to continue making AYP," State Superintendent Barge said in a recent press release.