Are Georgia’s new tests making a difference?

Under the state’s new tougher tests and standards, more Georgia students are failing. So, parents know the new Georgia Milestones are harder tests, but what they don’t know yet is whether they are better tests.

Stung by repeated studies showing Georgia’s definition of proficient was lower than other states, the state Board of Education raised standards and the state Department of Education developed new tests to measure those standards.

In 2014, the last year the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests or CRCTs were given, more than 80 percent of fourth-graders passed the reading exam and more than 90 percent of eighth- graders passed math. Those pass rates fell dramatically when students took the Georgia Milestones last year.