Barnett Shoals and Cleveland Road elementary schools in the Clarke County School District have been named 2025 Title I Reward Schools by the Georgia Department of Education – a designation that recognizes the Title I schools statewide that are making the most significant strides in overall student achievement. 

GaDOE has released its 2025 list of Title I Distinguished and Reward Schools based on the most recent two years of reported data on statewide assessments. Distinguished Schools are among the highest-performing 5% of Title I schools statewide, while Reward Schools are among the greatest-improving 5% when comparing Content Mastery scores in English language arts and math for all students. 

Content Mastery at the elementary school level addresses whether students are achieving at the pace necessary to be prepared for the next grade based on student performance on the Georgia Milestones, which is administered to students in grades 3-8. Content Mastery is also one of the four components that factor into an elementary school’s score on the College and Career Ready Performance Index, Georgia’s statewide accountability system for K-12 public schools.

Barnett Shoals has seen double-digit increases in ELA (+10) and math (+12) in Content Mastery scores since 2023, while Cleveland Road also had a 10-point increase in math Content Mastery and showed improvement in ELA Content Mastery during that same timeframe. 

“To be included on this list is a remarkable achievement that highlights the effective teaching, learning, and leadership happening in our schools," said Dr. Donna Elder, CCSD Interim Deputy Superintendent of Academics and Student Supports. "Barnett Shoals and Cleveland Road are shining examples of how the Clarke County School District demonstrates excellence in education."  

Schools must be Title I to be eligible for the Distinguished and Reward designations and must not currently be identified as being in need of additional state support for improvement. In CCSD, all 21 elementary, middle, and high schools are designated Title I — based on their percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch according to their household income — and receive federal funding to help ensure that all children, particularly those who are most academically at-risk, meet challenging state academic standards.