Harris County, ChattCo improve on Georgia Milestones

The Harris County School District improved its passing rate on more than three-fourths of the state’s standardized tests when comparing scores from this year to last year, and the Chattahoochee County School District improved on more than half of them.

In the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, Harris County improved on 23 of the 30 tests that were comparable between 2015 and 2016, and Chattahoochee County improved on 19 of 31. The state’s average passing rate improved on 23 of 32 tests. The overall number of tests is different because not all high schools offer every course.

“Overall, we are pleased with the progress we have made in many areas,” Harris County Superintendent Jimmy Martin told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “Our schools have worked diligently during the past two years of Milestones administrations. It has been a much higher level of rigor for the students, which included a huge shift to much more written responses on the part of students. Teachers and students have worked very hard on higher levels of knowledge and not simply lower level multiple choice assessments.”

Harris County’s passing rate was better than the state average on 25 tests in 2015 and now on 30 in 2016, while Chattahoochee County surpassed the state average on four tests in 2015 and now on 11 tests in 2016.

Chattahoochee County Superintendent David McCurry said he is “extremely proud” of the students and teachers who produced those positive results, especially in elementary school.

The Chattahoochee County Education Center, which contains the elementary grades, “has a strong group of teachers that continuously analyze their students’ data and plan lessons accordingly,” McCurry told the L-E in an email. “There is much collaboration within grade levels and subject areas. Great teaching practices combined with the efforts of hard working, bright students is what produces that success.”

McCurry was principal of Cairo High School before ChattCo’s school board hired him in August 2014. Martin led ChattCo’s schools for six years before leaving in July 2014 to replace the retired Craig Dowling in Harris County.

The passing rate on the Georgia Milestones is considered the percentage of students who scored at one of the two highest achievement levels out of the four designated in the assessment system. Those levels from bottom to top are:

▪  Beginning Learners haven’t demonstrated proficiency and need substantial academic support to be prepared for the next grade level or course and to be on track for college and career readiness.

▪  Developing Learners demonstrated partial proficiency and need additional academic support to ensure success in the next grade level or course and to be on track for college and career readiness.

▪  Proficient Learners demonstrated proficiency and are prepared for the next grade level or course and are on track for college and career readiness.

▪  Distinguished Learners demonstrated advanced proficiency and are well prepared for the next grade level or course and are prepared for college and career readiness.

So passing a test means the students scored at the Proficient or Distinguished level.

Students in grades 3-8 take Georgia Milestones in four subjects: English language arts, math, science and social studies. Those are called End-of-Grade tests. High school students take Georgia Milestones when they are in the following courses: ninth-grade literature, American literature, geometry, analytic geometry, coordinate algebra, algebra I, biology, physical science, U.S. history and economics. Those are called End-of-Course tests.

Georgia law requires students in grades 3, 5 and 8 to attain grade level (Proficient or Distinguished) in English language arts to be promoted to the next grade. Georgia law also requires fifth-graders and eighth-graders to be at least a Developing Learner in math to be promoted to the next grade. The Georgia Board of Education waived those requirements for the 2015 tests because it was the first year of the state’s new exams, and the board granted another waiver for the 2016 tests because some school districts reported glitches while administering the Georgia Milestones tests online this spring.

The state’s previous exams were the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, the End-of-Course Tests and the Georgia Writing Assessments. These were dropped two years ago in favor of the tougher Georgia Milestones, which assess students on the state’s more rigorous standards. The Georgia Milestones include open-ended questions in English language arts and math, requiring students to explain their answers. The assessment of writing is part of the English language arts test.

Harris County

The areas Martin highlighted in Harris County’s performance include:

▪  Mulberry Creek Elementary School scored at 63 percent Proficient or Distinguished in fourth-grade math.

▪  New Mountain Hill Elementary School scored at 51 percent Proficient or Distinguished in third-grade ELA.

▪  Park Elementary School improved by 19 points its percentage of third-graders scoring at Proficient or Distinguished in math.

▪  Pine Ridge Elementary School scored at 60 percent Proficient or Distinguished in third-grade ELA.

▪  Creekside School scored at 51 percent Proficient or Distinguished in fifth-grade science and 56 percent Proficient or Distinguished in sixth-grade math.

▪  Harris County Carver Middle School had 55 percent of its students in grades 7 and 8 score above their expected Lexile (reading) level.

▪  Harris County High School exceeded the state average passing rate (Proficient of Distinguished) by double digits in geometry, physical science and U.S. history.

Asked what displeases him the most about these test scores, Martin wrote, “We are not displeased, but we also know there is always room for growth. As always, we continue to strive towards continuous improvement. We also know that we still have work to do with subgroups. We have additional areas for growth with Students with Disabilities and minority populations.”

Harris County also is focused on improving the writing levels of its students, he said.

“We have already had our School Improvement Teams, by utilizing the data from these assessments, working on how we can help our students academically,” Martin wrote. “We are proud of our scores but know that we can do even more through initiatives such as tutoring, both in school and after hours.

“We are constantly seeking ways to have more students score in the highest category of Distinguished. Each school is discussing what specific initiatives have worked well and what needs changing. From year to year, we know we must make corrections as to what is effective.”

ChattCo

ChattCo’s improvement on its passing rate in analytic geometry, soaring from 10 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2015, seems to be an anomaly because of the great disparity in the number of students who took the test, plummeting from 130 in 2015 to only 10 in 2016.

But the double-digit improvements on the passing rate in U.S. history (17 points), biology (15 points,) and American Literature (13 points) appear legitimate because the number of test-takers decreased only slightly or actually increased.

“At the high school level we’re very pleased with the progress of the Biology students and teachers,” McCurry wrote. “Their scores matched the state averages. Many of the high school scores across the board are at the top end of Level II (Developing). One focus of teachers this year will be those ‘bubble’ students and what it will take to get them over the hump into the Level III (Proficient) category. The high school teachers and students have much potential.”

Asked what displeases him most about these test scores, McCurry wrote, “An area of obvious concern is still the middle school scores. However, we’re expecting to see much improvement in these classrooms this upcoming year with a group of all new teachers and leadership.

“The new middle/high school principal (Sandi Veliz) has a strong knowledge of curriculum and instruction and is already using academic data to adjust instruction for the upcoming year. The middle school students are hard workers and have the ability. We expect great things!”

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Harris County, ChattCo improve on Georgia Milestones."