Mixed thoughts linger over CRCT

As metro Atlanta students return from spring break today, elementary and middle schools will prepare for the annual round of CRCT testing.

During the next couple of weeks, anxious students will take the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, which measure whether students learned what the state says they need to know. Results help determine whether students in grades three, five and eight move on the to the next grade level. Scores also determine whether schools meet testing goals mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

There’s added tension as some teachers and parents wonder whether failure rates will be high.

Last spring, about 71 percent of sixth-graders and 76 percent of seventh-graders failed the social studies sections of the exams. About 38 percent of eighth-graders failed the math test. The three exams were new and based on revamped curriculum.

Parents and local educators were outraged over the results and accused the state of developing defective tests. Some still don’t trust the system.

“I don’t think it’s going to go well at all,” Atlanta parent Winston Taylor said. “Last year’s results showed how easy it was for kids to not get the lessons they needed and for mistakes to be made. I’m not confident things are better.”

The state has improved sixth- and seventh-grade social studies and provided teachers with more training, particularly in math, said Stephen Pruitt, an associate superintendent for the Georgia Department of Education who oversees testing.

State leaders clarified and changed what should be taught in social studies and trained teachers on the new material. The state also developed new social studies tests, which will be field-tested when sixth- and seventh-graders take the tests. Students’ scores on those two tests won’t count.

Pruitt said students struggled in math because the exams were based on a new and more rigorous curriculum. As teachers become more comfortable with the material, scores will improve, he said.

Public schools now use an integrated approach to math, which weaves elements of algebra, geometry and statistics into a single math class, rather than teaching each separately. Middle school students now study algebra and other concepts previously taught in high school.

“I’d like to think some of the apprehension has abated,” Pruitt said. “We have quality assessments and we don’t feel like there will be any issues this year.”

The changes have eliminated some anxiety, said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, an advocacy group with about 75,000 members.

“For a testing system to be effective it must have the confidence and trust of students, parents, teachers and the general public,” Callahan said. “I really hope it goes smoothly, but I think everyone has their fingers crossed that we don’t have another train wreck.”

TESTING DATES

Students in grades 1-8 take the CRCT. Georgia allows districts to give the exams anytime from April 6 to May 8, with each system setting their own dates. Here are the testing dates for local districts:

Atlanta…………April 21-30

Cherokee County….April 20-24

Clayton County ….April 15-27

Cobb County……..April 21-May 1

Decatur…………April 14-24

DeKalb County……April 21-May 1

Fayette County ….April 15-21

Fulton County……April 16-23

Gwinnett County….April 14-23

Marietta ……….April 20-29

Note: Dates are for schools on a traditional calendar. Year-round schools may have a slightly different schedule.

Source: Area school systems