Here’s how well Muscogee student test scores improved compared to statewide peers

Editor’s note: Britt David Elementary Magnet Academy ranked third for growth in science at 85 percent. Because of an editing error, this was left out of the original story but has been added below.

The Muscogee County School District has honored the schools whose students made the most academic improvement relative to their statewide peers last year.

This is the second straight year the district has given its SGP Awards, measured by the Student Growth Percentile. The statistics for this year’s are based on the 2016 results of the state’s standardized tests, called the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, compared to the 2015 results.

Academic peers are defined as other students statewide with a similar history of test scores. The SGP indicates how much a student’s academic performance has improved.

The percentiles range from 1 as the lowest growth to 99 as the highest growth. The SGP is divided into three categories: Low Growth (1-34), Typical Growth (35-65) and High Growth (66-99). The SGP allows all students to demonstrate growth, regardless of their achievement level.

MCSD awarded five places among its 32 elementary schools and three places among its 12 middle schools and nine high schools. The district also awarded multiple schools in certain places when there were ties. The winners are listed here along with the percentage of students who showed Typical Growth or High Growth in their test scores from 2015 to 2016.

Elementary schools

English language arts: Midland Academy showed the highest growth in the district with 72 percent of students showing improvement, followed by Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy with 70 percent. Gentian and North Columbus elementary schools and Dimon and Hannan elementary magnet academies tied for third with 69 percent each, followed by Britt David Elementary Magnet Academy and Forrest Road Elementary with 68 percent each, and Fox Elementary School and Reese Road Leadership Academy with 66 percent each.

Math: Britt David showed the most growth in math with 82 percent improvement, followed by Midland (81), Fox (79), Johnson Elementary School (75) and Dimon (74).

Social Studies: River Road Elementary School showed the highest growth with 90 percent improvement, followed by Britt David (88), Johnson (84), Gentian and St. Marys Road Magnet Academy (81 each), and Lonnie Jackson Academy (80).

Science: Mathews Elementary School and River Road showed the most growth, with 86 percent each, followed by Britt David (85), Midland (84), Reese Road (83), and Dawson and South Columbus elementary schools and Eagle Ridge Academy (80 each).

Middle schools

English language arts: Aaron Cohn Middle School showed the highest growth in the district with 77 percent improvement, followed by Double Churches Middle School (70) and Eddy and Fort middle schools (68 each).

Math: Aaron Cohn showed the most growth at 72 percent, followed by Veterans Memorial Middle School (70) and Blackmon Road and Double Churches middle schools (67 each).

Social Studies: Aaron Cohn also finished first in the district for growth in math, with 77 percent, followed by Blackmon Road and Fort (76 each), and Double Churches (70).

Science: Fort finished first in science with 77 percent improvement, followed by Aaron Cohn (76), and Double Churches and Veterans (72 each).

High school algebra I: East Columbus Magnet Academy showed the most student improvement with 79 percent growth, followed by Richards Middle School (75) and Eddy (74).

High school physical science: Fort finished first with 94-percent growth, followed by Arnold Magnet Academy (81) and Veterans (77).

High schools

Ninth-grade literature: Early College Academy showed the highest growth with 87 percent, followed by Shaw High School (71) and Columbus High School (69).

American literature: Early College was recognized for the most improvement with 85 percent, followed by Columbus (80) and Shaw (78).

Algebra I: Columbus showed the highest improvement with 85 percent, followed by Kendrick and Northside high schools (75 each) and Hardaway High School (72).

Analytic geometry: Columbus exhibited improvement in 84 percent of students, followed by Early College (74) and Northside (71).

Biology: Early College showed the highest growth in biology at 93 percent, followed by G.W. Carver STEM High School (78) and Northside (75).

Physical science: Jordan High School showed the highest improvement at 74 percent, followed by Northside (73) and Shaw (68).

U.S. history: Early College, Hardaway and Jordan tied for first place for highest growth in history, with 80 each, followed by Kendrick (74) and Carver (69).

Economics: Jordan had a student improvement rate of 93 percent, followed by Early College (79) and Columbus (67).

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Here’s how well Muscogee student test scores improved compared to statewide peers."