Forty-four schools from across Georgia will be announced as "No Excuses" schools today at a news conference by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation at Gainesville’s Fair Street International Baccalaureate World School.

Fair Street was selected for the announcement because of the school’s outstanding student achievement, according to a news release from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

Ranked in the Foundation’s 2009 Report Card for Parents released Wednesday as 103 in the state overall for achievement out of 1,201 elementary schools, the Gainesville school is a leader among the No Excuses schools.

Those schools have above-average percentages of low-income students with significantly higher academic scores than projected.

Fair Street’s enrollment of 626 students in pre-K through fifth grade comprises 68 percent Latino, 25 percent African-American and 7 percent other students, with 95 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

The selection of No Excuses schools is based on the Foundation’s 2009 Report Card for Parents, available at www.gppf.org.