[Barnesville, GA, Feb 2025]
Lamar County residents, parents, students, and staff have yet another thing to celebrate regarding the Trojan Nation. Cognia, the leading international accreditation agency for over 130 years, recently concluded their review of the Lamar County School System (Thursday, January 30, 2025). The review is conducted every six years, focusing on five sections: Assurances, Rating of Analyses, Cognia Performance Standards, Insights from the Review, and a Summary of Findings that includes Noteworthy Practices and Areas for Improvement. We are happy to report Lamar County Schools exceeded the Cognia Network Average on ALL eleven standards. With a PERFECT 4.0 score on: Stakeholder Feedback Analysis, Student Performance Analysis, and Learning Environments Analysis. The engagement review cited “Noteworthy Practices” that reflect significant areas of strength in the work of the institution. Although there are numerous examples of the institution's level of quality, the recognition of Noteworthy Practices reflects the greatest strengths of the institution.
· Leaders are responsible for establishing and sustaining a culture that promotes the well-being of students and staff. By modeling positive attributes and implementing practices that align with the desired culture, leaders set clear expectations for behavior and performance.
· Governing authority members and system leaders leverage their roles and responsibilities to drive continuous improvement. Supporting and guiding the continuous improvement process ensures that identified priorities are effectively addressed.
· Professional learning is learner-centered, data-driven, and focused on enhancing instructional skills. Professional learning effectively improves professional practice by aligning with needs assessments and data analysis.
Each Cognia engagement review produces a total “Index of Education Quality” (IEQ) score as a holistic measure of overall performance. We are proud to report Lamar County Schools received a score of 329 (the Cognia network average is 296). “An IEQ above 300 indicates the institution meets Cognia’s expectations for accreditation that include one or more Areas for Improvement and may include one or more Noteworthy Practices.”
Accreditation is a continuous improvement process. The Engagement Review provides independent, objective guidance in relation to the Performance Standards and the institution’s improvement journey. It is encouraging for an outside evaluating entity to witness and confirm what we already know, great things are happening in Lamar County Schools. Our staff works very hard to offer an outstanding educational experience for the students of Lamar County. While we want to be good at everything, our core business is teaching and learning. These are the sole focus of Cognia reviews. As we often say, “It’s good to be us”. Cognia Lead Evaluator, Jay Wansley, is scheduled to give a full report at the Lamar County Board of Education meeting, March 10th, 2025 at 6pm.