Data Sources, Rules and Definitions

"All Students" refers to all students in a grade level or to all students for which an indicator (i.e., graduation rate) is applicable.

Information is not reported on student groups with fewer than 10 students for reasons of confidentiality.

"No Data Available" appears when a school or system has not reported data or has no data to report.

Figures do not always add to 100 percent due to rounding. However, the sum of percentages will always be 99, 100, or 101.

The K-12 data is provided to GOSA by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). In addition, several other organizations and agencies provide information to GOSA or GaDOE to be used in the Report Card, including the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Labor, the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the College Board, the American College Testing Program, the Georgia Student Finance Commission, and the Professional Standards Commission, among others.

The report provides disaggregated data (when available) on the basis of race/ethnicity, gender, disability, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility, migrant, and English proficiency. For Georgia assessments, student results are disaggregated into 14 categories:

• American Indian or Alaska Native A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment.
• Asian A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. This area includes, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Black or African American A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa and not of Hispanic origin.
• Hispanic/Latino A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
• White A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.
• Two or More Races A person having parents of different races.
• Male
• Female
• Student With Disabilities A student or youth from 3 through 21 years of age is considered to have a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) if the student or youth meets one or more of the categories of eligibility consistent with State Board Rule 160-4-7-.02. Such students are eligible to receive special education services.
• Student Without Disabilities A student who does not meet any category of eligibility to receive special education services.
• English Learners (ELs) Students enrolled in K-12 schools with a home language other than English that qualify as English Learners (ELs) based on state-approved language screener criteria.
• Economically Disadvantaged A student who is eligible for the free-or-reduced-priced meal program.
• Not Economically Disadvantaged A student who is not eligible for the free or reduced priced meal program.
• Migrant Status A student who has been enrolled in the Migrant Education Program (MEP) for any time during the year. A child/youth is eligible to receive Migrant Education Program services if:
  1. he/she is between 3 and 21 years of age;
  2. parent, guardian, or other immediate family member is a migratory agricultural worker or fisher; and
  3. moved within the past 36 months from one school district to another to enable the migrant worker to obtain temporary or seasonal employment in an agricultural or fishing activity.

These categories are used for reporting indicator data as well. For some test results (e.g., SAT and ACT), results by disability and English proficiency were not available, and race categories may differ slightly.

Beginning with 2002-2003 academic year data, the annual Report Card reflects the merging of Georgia test files with the Student Record for purposes of standardizing the identification of students by various group factors. The Student Record contains information on the race/ethnicity, gender, English proficiency, disability status, and migrant status on every student enrolled in a Georgia public school during any period of an academic year.

"Students with Disabilities" refers to those students who were assigned a state-required code code corresponding to a specific exceptionality or disability on his/her Student Record.

Categories of eligibility include: autism, deaf/blind, deaf/hard of hearing, emotional and behavioral disorder, mild intellectual disability, moderate intellectual disability, severe intellectual disability, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, significant developmental delay, specific learning disability, speech-language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment. Students with disabilities are eligible to receive special education services via an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

In elementary and middle schools, FAY is calculated by determining if the student was enrolled 65% of the number of days from the start date of the year to the close of the state testing window. For high school students, FAY is calculated by determining if a student was enrolled in a course 65% of the number of days from the start date of the course to the end date of the course. Students taking a GAA are considered FAY if they are enrolled 65% of the number of days from the first day of school to the close of the GAA window. Given this definition, it is possible for students who move schools during the school year to be considered FAY in one school and test in another school.