4 things to know about Georgia Milestones tests

Spring means not only spring break for students, but also that its time to take the 2017 Georgia Milestones Assessment System tests.

Students in grades 3 through 8 take an end-of-grade assessment in English language arts and mathematics, while students in grades 5 and 8 are also assessed in science and social studies. High school students take an end-of-course assessment for each of the ten courses designated by the State Board of Education.

The key standardized tests measure how well students have learned English, language arts, math, science and social studies, compared to what state-adopted standards say they should know.

1. These newer standardized tests are pegged to Georgia’s latest academic standards, which were guided by the Common Core, a national consensus of what each child should learn in each grade level.

2. The Georgia Milestones are harder than the last set o standardized tests retired retired a few years ago. The bar for passing Milestones — hitting what the testers call it “proficiency” — has been raised. Failure triggers mandatory discussions between schools and parents about repeating a grade.

3. The results are broken into four categories, from lowest to highest: “beginning,” which means a test taker is not proficient (these are the students subject to being held back), then “developing,” “proficient,” and the most knowledgeable can earn a “distinguished.”