MCSD improves passing rate on 44 percent of Georgia Milestones, trails state

The Muscogee County School District improved its passing rate on 44 percent of the state’s standardized tests this year compared to last year but still trails the state average on every one, according to data the Georgia Department of Education released Thursday.

Among the 23 Georgia Milestones Assessment System tests comparable between 2016 and 2017, MCSD’s passing rate increased on 10 of them, decreased on nine and remained the same on four. The three other Georgia Milestones tests out of the 26 given statewide didn’t have any or enough MCSD students take them to determine growth.

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

In the spring of 2017, the state’s public schools administered 26 Georgia Milestones: 16 End-of-Grade (EOG) tests in grades 3-8 and 10 End-of-Course (EOC) tests in grades 9-12.

Overall in Georgia, the percentage of students passing (scoring at the Proficient or Distinguished levels) improved on 46 percent of the tests (12 of 26) when comparing the 2016 and 2017 scores. That means the gap between the state and MCSD widened. MCSD narrowed the gap with the state on eight tests, lost ground on 13 tests and remained the same on two tests, while the other three tests aren’t comparable.

MCSD, however, decreased the percentage of students identified as Beginning Learners in 12 of the 23 comparable tests from 2016 to 2017 and outperformed the school districts in the state’s other second-tier cities – Bibb County (Macon), Chatham County (Savannah) and Richmond County (Augusta) – on 20 of the 24 comparable tests in 2017, according to MCSD’s analysis, which the Ledger-Enquirer wasn’t able to confirm before deadline.

The L-E emailed MCSD superintendent David Lewis questions about these results. He didn’t respond directly, but he said in a news release, “I am pleased with the return on investment we are realizing in the sustained areas of improvement such as increased reading Lexile levels in nearly all grades. Likewise, these results further substantiate our strategic realignment of budget and training priorities already in place for the coming year and beyond to address needed improvement in math as well as the transition to new state science and social studies curriculum standards that go into effect this year.”

Patrick Knopf, MCSD’s director of research, accountability and assessment, said in the news release, “An analysis of the release data and school level report shows there are increases in the number of students reading above grade level, which is a portion of the total ELA score, however, writing and math are areas that need improvement district-wide.”

This year, Georgia public school students took EOG tests in English language arts and math in grades 3-8, EOG tests in science and social studies in grades 5-8 and EOC 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.

Other highlights of MCSD’s performance, according to its news release:

▪ Increased or maintained the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 9 of 16 (56.25 percent) areas on the End-of-Grade (EOG) assessment.

▪ Decreased or maintained the number of Beginning Learners in 9 of 16 (56.25 percent) areas on the EOG assessments.

▪ Increased or maintained the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 4 of 6 (66.6 percent) grade levels in English language arts EOG assessments.

▪ Increased or maintained the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 3 of 6 (50 percent) grade levels in math EOG assessments.

▪ Increased or maintained the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 5 of 7 (71.4 percent) areas on the End-of-Course assessments (EOC). This is the first year MCSD administered Geometry instead of Analytic Geometry, so two-year trend data is not available.

▪ Decreased the number of Beginning Learners in 3 of 7 (42.8 percent) areas on the EOC assessments.

▪ Increased the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 2 of 2 (100 percent) courses in English language arts EOC assessments.

▪ Increased the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 2 of 2 (100 percent) courses in science EOC assessments.

▪ Increased or maintained the number of Proficient and Distinguished Learners in 2 of 2 (100 percent) of courses in social studies EOC assessments.

“We thank and commend our students, teachers, administrators and support staff for their hard work and commitment to our district’s continuous improvement,” Lewis said in the news release. “We recognize and appreciate the support of our parents and our community because we know schools cannot do this work alone.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 6:26 PM with the headline "MCSD improves passing rate on 44 percent of Georgia Milestones, trails state."