Two Lanier Middle School teachers were recognized by State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox for CRCT improvements.

The Superintendent’s Distinguished Achievement Awards went to sixth-grade teachers Janet Corbitt and Amanda Gaither.

Principal Gene Culpepper said both Corbitt and Gaither received the recognition because of the improvement in CRCT scores for science, language arts and reading.

Gaither received the award for sixth-grade language arts and reading.

Lanier Middle School placed sixth in reading, with a 17.23-point jump in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations compared to the previous year, and third in language arts with a 20.75-point jump in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations compared to the previous year.

Corbitt’s sixth-grade science placed ninth with a 25.65-point jump in percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations.

The middle school’s overall commitment to mapping and prioritizing the curriculum at all levels played a big role in the awards, Culpepper said.

“We kept the main thing the main thing,” Culpepper said. “The teachers were teaching, and we guarded that class time.”

Implementing the best strategies to teach the material along with measuring the students’ progress also played key roles, Culpepper said.

“This was the curriculum where we saw the biggest growth, and those teachers did a good job with, which all the teachers did,” Culpepper said. “But those areas had suffered the year before.”

The Superintendent’s Distinguished Achievement Awards Program honors those schools that had the highest achievement and greatest improvement on state curriculum tests.

It is based on the performance of students on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT), the Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT) and the End-of-Course Tests (EOCT). These awards acknowledge schools for improvement — the top 10 schools in each honored subject area and grade level that had the greatest improvement in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards — and achievement — the top 10 schools in each honored subject area and grade that had the highest percentage of students score in the exceeds category.