The Governor’s Cup Returns to North Fulton County

By Kate Copsey / STAFF

As I walked into the Alpharetta High School office, I couldn’t miss the beautiful Governor’s cup. The cup, that was presented to the school last week by Governor Sonny Purdue and School Superintendent Kathy Cox, represents the greatest improvement in SAT scores over three years in the state, and Principal Buck Greene was positively glowing with pride.

Greene admits that he did know about the visit several days before, primarily to help with logistics and security, but was sworn to secrecy. So the visit, on Monday, September 17, was a surprise for both staff and students. The governor was on the ground for less than 45 minutes, and during that time he gave a speech to the student body and presented the cup. The high-achieving student class can also wear a tee shirt that says “SAT State Champs.”

Alpharetta High School Principal Buck Greene (left) and Gov. Sonny Perdue hoist the Governor’s Cup in the company of State School Superintendent Kathy Cox. (Kate Copsey / STAFF)

Each year, in every Georgia Public School, the SAT scores for each student are analyzed, and totals for student achievement in math and language arts are averaged. This average is then computed as a mean score for the student body in SAT examinations. The score is then compared to the score three years ago. The school that gained the most number of points over that three-year period is awarded the cup. Alpharetta High School achieved the largest increase of all the AAAAA schools in the state. The school increased by 38 points last year, and another 18 points this year, giving it a total of 56 points over the three-year period. One cup is awarded to each winning school for each of the groupings (A, AA, AAA and AAAA schools).

Next year the averages will include the writing portion of the exam, but as the essay section has only been tested for two years, the three-year’s mean cannot be calculated. Alpharetta High School’s two-year gain in the writing segments is impressive though, and may put the school in the running for retaining the cup next year, they hope.

Increasing a student’s score, though, is not without effort on the part of the school and the teachers, and Alpharetta has some fine teachers. English Department Chair Carol Graham said, “In the spirit of GPS curriculum design, we were quite intentional in improving grammar instruction in a concerted team effort.” To that end the English Department teachers decided that “potted” grammar lessons and language practice was not motivating to the students, so they spent their last three summers creatively working on their own exercises.

One such idea is the daily grammar practice (DGP). Here, a sentence is put on the board on Monday, and it is dissected, scrutinized, diagrammed, and studied for a few minutes each morning. By the end of the week, the sentence is thoroughly understood by the class. This constant review keeps the critical parts of language fresh in their minds.

Good writers also read and that is emphasized too, particularly critical reading. Graham comments, “At AHS, we believe that books beg to be marked up, dog-eared, and consumed over and again in one’s lifetime.” A variety of books are expected to be studied in high school but knowing how to read closely and critically is essential to interpretation. To help students, the teachers have trained themselves in the SOAPSTone method of critical reading. This unique method, like the sentence idea, forces the student to look at the content of a book and identify Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject and Tone. The entries can be placed in a grid format for a comparison of different books, as well as a critique of the current book.

Another thing that has helped the student population is the mentoring program. Both adult/student and peer mentoring is practiced in the school to keep student motivation high and on the right track. The school also offers SAT preparation classes, including the Kaplan course. These popular classes always fill quickly because almost the whole school takes the SAT and PSAT exams.

Greene though believes that his staff is the real key to their success and counts himself lucky in having “a happy, willing, positive and dedicated staff.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they beat their rivals Northview High School. In the four years that the Governor’s Cup has been in existence, Northview won two years, and Peachtree won it one year. To have the cup now in Alpharetta is bound to fuel the friendly rivalry between these two schools.