The new school year will bring yet another change in how the Georgia Milestones impact students. On Wednesday, the state education board voted to let districts reduce the weight of those test scores on high school course grades.
At the board’s meeting last month, it waived Milestones math scores for consequential decisions, such as calculating high school course grades and promotion and retention decisions in certain grades, for the 2023-2024 school year. This is partly because of Georgia’s changes to its math curriculum, initially implemented in 2021. New math tests will be administered for the first time next winter and spring.
The disagreements about decreasing the Milestones weight were seen at this meeting as well, with board member Mike Royal advocating against it.
Using a baseball analogy, Royal said, “I really think we’re doing a disservice by widening the plate in these four content areas.” The four content areas refer to American Literature and Composition, Algebra 1/Coordinate Algebra, Biology and U.S History.
Despite his and others’ objections, the motion passed 9-3. Districts can now choose to set the Milestones, with the minimum at 10%.
Before this change, the Milestones test counted for 20% of a high school student’s grade.
Changing the weight of the Milestones hasn’t been unheard of. To adjust for the pandemic, the Milestones counted for only 0.01% of a high school student’s final grade during the 2020-2021 school year. Setting the minimum weight to 10% will allow for more teacher flexibility, said board member Martha Zoller.
The board also voted on using certain universal screeners in K-5 schools, which are reading tests that allow schools to detect young students with significant reading deficiencies, such as dyslexia. This action came after the Georgia Early Literacy Act that passed in the Georgia General Assembly this year. The act makes schools test students on their reading in order to identify struggling students. Board member Helen Odom Rice spoke against the measure, saying the board needed more information for proper implementation. Despite that, the screeners passed unanimously.
The board will establish more guidelines and qualifications for teachers who would want to be considered as a universal screener provider.
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