Lewis says scores should bring ‘urgency’ not ‘panic’

During the Muscogee County School Board’s monthly work session Monday night, Patrick Knopf, the school district’s director of research, accountability and assessment, presented an update on the College and Career Ready Performance Index, the state’s overall measurement of its public schools.

About two-thirds of the district’s schools scored below the state average on the CCRPI, comprising standardized test scores from a year ago, spring 2015. It was the first year for those exams, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, considered more rigorous than the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.

As a result, the Georgia Department of Education warned against comparing the 2014 and 2015 CCRPI scores. But school officials throughout the state, including Muscogee and Harris counties, spent the past week making such comparisons to determine their district’s progress.

In Muscogee, the district set a record for its highest average score in the four-year history of the CCRPI, understanding the formula has changed each year. The district improved its overall result on the 100-point scale by 0.5 points, from 68.5 in 2014 to 69.0 in 2015.

Superintendent David Lewis, completing his third school year in Muscogee County, said the overall scores aren’t acceptable, but he noted the progress and said he welcomes the higher standards. For too long, he said, Georgia’s standards lagged too far behind the nation. “The problem is, we’ve implemented it in a very short time frame,” he said. “I’m OK with that. We’ve got to have a sense of urgency but not panic.”

Board vice chairwoman Pat Hugley Green of District 1 said the CCRPI scores must be understood with perspective.

“We know poverty is a factor, as are students with disabilities,” Green said. “… I’m not making excuses, just pointing out facts. There are a lot of contributing factors to the score. No one size fits all. It’s a pretty complex assessment for one big score. What’s affecting those components will vary from one school to the next.”

Board member Frank Myers praised Georgetown and Rigdon Road for moving off the “failing” list, but he expressed concern that “less than 50 percent” of Muscogee third-graders read on grade level. He cited statistics that say children who can’t read on grade level by third grade have only an 11 percent chance of graduating from high school and have a 75 percent chance of ending up on public assistance or in jail.

He called the overall results “a disaster,” while fellow board member John Thomas called them “abysmal.”

“I don’t care what testing system you use,” said Myers, the District 8 representative. “We have been failing for years and years and years. … Everybody in the state is taking the same test at the same time. So this stuff about, ‘This is a new test,’ we end up in the bottom third or fourth every single time. We’re not taking some strange test nobody else is taking. That’s the kind of false argument that causes me credibility issues.”

Kia Chambers, the nine-member board’s lone at-large representative asked the administration for more detailed analysis of the CCRPI results to determine where best to allocate the school district’s money.

Knopf already had an answer: “It’s reading and writing. … Those are the two places we saw the most difficulties across the board.”

Thomas, the District 2 representative, said his research found that Muscogee trails the state average in reading at every level.

“Poverty is a factor, but it’s not an excuse either,” Thomas said. “There are districts more poverty-stricken than Muscogee County doing better.”

Lewis said it takes 3-5 years to see improved results, and “we’re starting to see them. Given the right resources and time, we can and will. We’re talking about generational issues. But it’s a worthy goal.”

And he called on parents and the community to help.

“If you leave it just to the schools,” he said, “they cannot do it by themselves.”

Seventeen of the district’s 53 schools earned their highest CCRPI scores, despite the tougher tests: Britt David (104.4), Dimon (71.4), Georgetown (63.0), Gentian (81.5), Hannan (77.5), Johnson (78.4), Martin Luther King Jr. (51.4), North Columbus (81.4), Rigdon Road (63.6), South Columbus (54.4) and Wesley Heights (62.9) elementary schools; Aaron Cohn (87.5) and Baker (52.4) middle schools; and Carver (67.9), Columbus (98.0), Hardaway (80.5) and Northside (90.6) high schools.

Britt David’s CCRPI is over the 100-point scale because it received Challenge Points, awarded to schools that exceed expectations.

Two of the district’s 10 schools originally identified as eligible for a possible state takeover now are off the “failing” list — and no more were added. By scoring at least 60 on their 2015 CCRPI, Georgetown (63.0) and Rigdon Road (63.6) elementary schools don’t fall under the Opportunity School District criteria of scoring less than 60 on the CCRPI for the past three straight years. Baker Middle School and Davis, Dawson, Forrest Road, Fox, Lonnie Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and South Columbus elementary schools remain on the list. That means, if Georgia voters approve Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed Opportunity School District amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot, those eight schools would be among the 127 in the state (down from the original 141) still eligible for state takeover. The proposed law would allow the state to take over 20 eligible schools each year and control no more than 100 such schools at any time.

The district’s nine high schools combined to surpass the state average for high schools, 76.7 compared to 75.8. But the district’s 11 middle schools (63.5) and 33 elementary school’s (66.2) scored below the state average (71.2 middle, 76.0 elementary).

Eight of the district’s 32 elementary schools scored above the state average for elementary schools: Britt David (104.4), Gentian (81.5), North Columbus (81.4), Reese Road (79.8), Clubview (79.1), Johnson (78.4), Mathews (78.3) and Hannan (77.5). Eagle Ridge (76.0) scored at the state average.

Three of the district’s 12 middle schools scored above the state average for middle schools: Blackmon Road (88.9), Aaron Cohn (87.5) and Veterans Memorial (80.3).

Five of the district’s nine high schools scored above the state average for high schools: Columbus (98.0), Northside (90.6), Early College (83.5), Hardaway (80.5) and Shaw (76.1).

This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Lewis says scores should bring ‘urgency’ not ‘panic’."