Nearly 90 metro Atlanta schools near bottom of barrel | Schools

ATLANTA -- The Georgia Department of Education has released a list of 156 schools labeled as "focus" schools under the state's new accountability system.

The schools, many of which are in metro Atlanta, are one step above the state's worst performing schools, called "priority" schools, which were released last week. The "focus" schools are ones with a graduation rate of less than 60 percent over two years or have large gaps between the highest and lowest achieving subgroup of students on campus.

Subgroups can be determined by race, special needs and family income.

The state was one of 10 to win waivers last month from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The other designations for school performance are: alert schools and reward schools. All designations will be handed out by the fall.

Metro Atlanta's focus schools include:

Atlanta Public Schools
Bunche Middle School
Deerwood Academy
Grady High School
Heritage Academy Elementary School
King Middle School
Miles Elementary School
Price Middle School

Barrow County
Winder-Barrow High School

Carroll County
Jonesville Middle School
Mt. Zion Middle School
Temple Middle School

Carrollton City Schools
Carrollton Middle-Upper Elementary School

Clarke County
Cedar Shoals High School
Clarke Central High School
Clarke Middle School

Clayton County
Anderson Elementary School
Babb Middle School
Brown Elementary School
Church Street Elementary School
James Jackson Elementary School
Kemp Elementary School
M. D. Roberts Middle School
Morrow Middle School
Mount Zion High School
Mundy's Mill High School
Riverdale Middle School
Roberta T. Smith Elementary School
Swint Elementary School
Tara Elementary School
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School

Cobb County
Brumby Elementary School
East Cobb Middle School
Hayes Elementary School
Riverside Intermediate School
Sanders Elementary School

Dalton City Schools
Park Creek Elementary School

DeKalb County
Columbia Middle School
Flat Rock Elementary School
Freedom Middle School
Lithonia Middle School
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School
McLendon Elementary School
Pleasantdale Elementary School
Princeton Elementary School
Stone Mill Elementary School
Tucker Middle School

Douglas County
Turner Middle School

Fulton County
Bear Creek Middle School
Creekside High School
High Point Elementary School
Jackson Elementary School
S.L. Lewis Elementary School
Randolph Elementary School
Renaissance Middle School
Ridgeview Charter School
Sandy Springs Middle School
Tri-Cities High School

Gainesville City Schools
Gainesville Middle School

Gilmer County
Gilmer High School

Greene County
Anita White Carson Middle School

Gwinnett County
Berkmar High School
Central Gwinnett High School
Lilburn Middle School
Norcross High School
Rosebud Elementary School
Summerour Middle School
Sweetwater Middle School

Hall County
Chicopee Elementary School

Henry County
Wesley Lakes Elementary School

Jasper County
Washington Park Elementary School

Marietta City Schools
Marietta High School
Marietta Middle School

Newton County
Live Oak Elementary School
West Newton Elementary School

Paulding County
Bessie L. Baggett Elementary School

Polk County
Cedartown High School
Northside Elementary School

Rockdale County
Heritage High School
Rockdale County High School
Salem High School

Rome City Schools
Rome High School

Spalding County
Carver Road Middle School
Cowan Road Middle School

Thomaston-Upson County
Upson-Lee High School
Upson-Lee South Elementary School

Walton County
Harmony Elementary School (Blaine Street Elementary)