Muscogee County’s CRCT scores are still below the state average, and I don’t mind.
Sure, it's too bad that our scores aren't higher, which I suppose would mean that our schools were better or our kids were smarter or our parents did a better job of being parents.
But given that our CRCT scores were pretty lousy last year, I'm glad that the district as a whole has shown a slight improvement over last year's results.
In fact, something would be wrong if we suddenly received marks as high as those in, say, Cobb or Forsyth county.
Does Atlanta Public Schools ring a bell?
As you surely remember, that school system achieved remarkable results, and teachers and administrators were lauded as visionaries and heroes.
Of course, the correct terminology turned out to be "cheaters."
As the scandal was hitting Atlanta, Muscogee County administrators were trying to convince everybody that their system wasn't among the worst, even as the AYP results were showing otherwise.
Meanwhile, state superintendent John Barge visited Columbus, took a quick look at our test results, and concluded that we certainly weren't cheating.
Talk about a backhanded compliment: You're so dumb that there's no way you can be cheating.
As a Vanderbilt football fan, I can relate. With the consistently pathetic record Vandy's had over the years, you can't say we're paying our players.
But there's another way to look at Muscogee's poor results: Maybe so many other people are cheating that it makes us look dumb.
I mean, the pressure to cheat is enormous. If you're a teacher or principal or administrator, you're praised if your district or school or class receives high test scores, and vilified if you don't.
Is cheating worth the risk? Maybe if you lack scruples and you've got a class full of knuckleheads and you don't feel like looking for another job.
But ask the former leaders of Atlanta Public Schools about that.
Today, Muscogee County ranks among the top half of its comparison group in only one subject: Social studies.
And its worst ranking is math, where it beats only Richmond and Bibb counties.
That's interesting because social studies scores have absolutely no bearing on AYP results, while math, of course, is very important in both AYP and in life.
Why are we so competitive against our peers in social studies?
Here's a theory: If other systems were cheating, they wouldn't bother to cheat on social studies because that subject doesn't matter. They'd direct their powers of evil toward subjects like science and math -- the money subjects, if you will.
That's assuming we're not cheating ourselves.
Which, as evidenced by our latest round of test scores, is highly unlikely.
Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, executive editor, can be reached at dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com
