Harris County eliminates gaps with state average on Georgia Milestones

The Harris County School District improved its passing rate on 42 percent of the state’s standardized tests comparable from last year to this year and eliminated its gap with the state average on two of the tests -- now surpassing or matching the state average on all 24 tests.

Comparing the 2017 results of the Georgia Milestones Assessment System to the 2016 results, Harris County’s passing rate increased on 10 of the 24 comparable tests. It decreased on 10 of them and remained the same on the other four.

The Georgia Milestones’ results are reported on one of four levels: Beginning Learner, Developing Learner, Proficient Learner or Distinguished Learner. Scoring at the Proficient or Distinguished level is considered passing the test.

Last year, Harris County improved its passing rate on 23 of the 30 tests comparable between 2015 and 2016.

Harris County’s 2017 passing rate surpassed the state average on 20 tests and was tied on the other four. Harris County’s passing rate surpassed the state average on 25 tests in 2015 and on 30 tests in 2016.

The two 2016 tests on which Harris County’s passing rate lagged behind the state average were American Literature & Compensation and Economics. But in 2017, Harris County eliminated those gaps. Its passing rate increased by 15 percentage points (from 36 percent to 51 percent) in American Literature & Composition while the state’s increased by six percentage points (from 43 percent to 49 percent), and its passing rate increased by 5 percentage points (from 40 percent to 45 percent) in Economics while the state’s remained at 45 percent.

This year, Georgia public school students took End-of-Grade tests in English language arts and math in grades 3-8, EOG tests in science and social studies in grades 5-8 and End-of-Course tests in grades 9-12 when students were in Ninth-Grade Literature & Composition, American Literature & Composition, Algebra I or Coordinate Algebra, Geometry or Analytic Geometry, Biology, Physical Science, U.S. History and Economics.

Georgia Senate Bill 364, which the legislature approved in 2016, eliminated the science and social studies EOG tests in grades 3, 4, 6 and 7, starting in 2017.

Jeff Branham, the Harris County School District’s chief information officer and human resources director, answered the Ledger-Enquirer’s questions about these test results in an email on behalf of superintendent Jimmy Martin.

“We are extremely pleased with our scores in many areas but also recognize the continuous need for improvement,” Branham said.

In elementary and middle school, Harris County’s 2017 passing rate surpassed the state average on all but one of the 16 tests. The exception is eighth-grade social studies, on which Harris County tied the state average.

Branham noted that 50 percent of the district’s seventh-graders and 55 percent of its eighth-graders scored above the recommended reading level, which is called a Lexile.

In high school, Harris County’s 2017 passing rate surpassed the state average on the tests covering Ninth-Grade Literature & Composition, American Literate & Composition, Algebra I, Physical Science and U.S. History. Harris County’s 2017 passing rate tied the state average on the tests covering Geometry, Biology and Economics.

“The Harris County School District continues to excel on these assessments because of a community that values education and supports the professions that make that happen,” Branham said.

Asked what concerns him the most about Harris County’s scores and what the district is doing to address that concern, Branham said, “We continue to strive for our students to be more competent in the extended response areas of the English language arts assessments. Milestones contain extended writing tasks, and our less-capable students continue to need supplementary preparation. We will continue to emphasize a more rigorous math curriculum.”

Branham added, “One of our main goals in our new strategic plan is early literacy. The Harris County School District will continue to focus on making even our youngest students stronger readers.”

Martin said in Branham’s email to the L-E, “We continue to use our instructional data to drive our teaching as well as our school improvement plans. We are extremely proud of the students and teachers of the Harris County School District.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Harris County eliminates gaps with state average on Georgia Milestones."