More Schools in Georgia Making Progress

Standardized testing shows more schools in Georgia are making progress year to year. Annual Yearly Progress is the standard indicator of school performance. This year, seventy nine percent of public schools in Georgia made AYP-- that’s a ten percent jump from this time last year.

The State Department of Education partly attributes the leap to better math scores on standardized tests.

“We saw a lot of improvement in CRCT scores in mathematics, especially in elementary and middle schools,” said Spokesperson Dana Tofig, “and we think that’s what played into more schools making AYP this year.”

Math is a subject many schools struggle with across the state, including Radloff Middle School in Gwinnett County north of Atlanta. It’s had a needs improvement status for the past 3 years. But this year it shed that label. Principal Patty Hietmuller shares how.

“We provided 40 minutes of extra math instruction everyday," said Hietmuller. She also touts goal setting as key to their success.

Schools that under perform in any given for two years in a row get a needs improvement status. Then they have to work with the state to make a plan to get better. This year, 334 schools are on the needs improvement list; that’s 6 fewer than last year.

Parents at those schools must be notified so they can choose whether to send their children to a different school.

CRCT Scores Show Improvement

Test scores for Georgia’s elementary and middle school students improved in all areas this year, but most dramatically in the crucial subjects of mathematics and science. Students posted gains on all 14 of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) in mathematics and science, all of which are aligned to Georgia’s more rigorous curriculum. The biggest one-year gain on any of the CRCTs was in eighth-grade math: The pass rate was 70 percent, an increase of eight percentage points.

The CRCTs are curriculum-based tests given to students in grades 1-8 in the subjects of reading, English language arts, mathematics and – in grades 3-8 – science and social studies. As Georgia has rolled out its new curriculum, the Georgia Performance Standards, more rigorous tests have been created and administered.

This year, for the first time, all the CRCTs are aligned to the new curriculum. The statewide results are reported in three categories – the percentage of students that did not meet standards, met standards or exceeded standards.

Other highlights from the 2009 CRCT report include:

- A five (5) percentage point jump in the pass rate for science in grades 3 and 5. In third grade, 80 percent of the students met or exceeded standards on the science CRCT and in fifth grade 76 percent.

- Reading and English language arts performance remained high and improved in almost every grade, with 89 percent of seventh-graders meeting standards on both tests. In sixth-grade, the pass rate was 90 percent in reading and 91 percent in English.

- This is the first year students in grades 3-5 took the social studies CRCT aligned to the new curriculum. The pass rate was over 70 percent for each grade.

You can find more information on the latest CRCT statistics by visiting the Georgia Department of Education's website at: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/

Source: GA Department of Education

Two Arrested in CRCT Testing Scandal

The CRCT testing scandal investigation has yielded two arrests in metro Atlanta.

Former Atherton Elementary Principal James Berry and Assistant Principal Doretha Alexander have been arrested by local police and face felony charges of altering public documents.

The arrests are part of a larger state investigation into whether student test scores were changed to improve school performance.

An audit last week revealed a high number of eraser marks on tests from four Georgia schools.

State officials have said the higher scores helped the schools meet federal standards.