Georgia students show CRCT progress
From Staff Reports
news@newnan.com
Results from 2012 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) show more Georgia students are exceeding the standards than last year.
Results also showed a one-year improvement in the percentage of students meeting and exceeding standards on 20 of the 30 content-area tests.
One-year improvements on 24 of 30 content areas included the following:
• Grade 3: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percentage of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 7, 3, 3, 3, and 4 percentage points, respectively.
• Grade 4: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percentage of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies increased by 6, 1, 4, and 2 percentage points, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard in Mathematics remained the same.
• Grade 5: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies increased by 5, 4, and 1 percentage point, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard decreased by 2 points in Reading and 5 points in Mathematics.
• Grade 6: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 6, 2, 4, and 4 percentage points, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard remained the same for English/Language Arts.
• Grade 7: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 3, 5, 6, 6, and 4 percentage points, respectively.
• Grade 8: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, Science, and Social Studies increased by 4, 1, and 3 percentage points, respectively. The percent of students exceeding the standard decreased by 3 percentage points in English/Language Arts, and remained the same in Mathematics.
When comparing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standard, the greatest gains were seen in grade 5 Social Studies (+6 percentage points) and grade 8 Science (+7 percentage points). There were decreases in four areas: grade 3 Science (-2 percentage points), grade 4 Mathematics (-1 percentage point), grade 5 Mathematics (-3 percentage points), and grade 8 Mathematics (-1 percentage point). There were no changes on six tests.
“While I am pleased to see an increase in the majority of the exams, I am concerned about those where we saw decreases or no change at all,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “As we begin teaching the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards next school year, we know the curriculum and the tests will be more difficult, so we must continue to focus on successfully implementing the new standards. We have been offering, and will continue to offer, teachers the necessary professional development to ensure they are equipped to deliver these new, more rigorous standards and to prepare our students for the next step.”
Promotion/Retention: State law requires that students in third, fifth, and eighth grade meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in Reading in order to be promoted. Fifth and eighth grade students must also meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in Mathematics.
For more test results, visit http://www.gadoe.org .
