ABOUT THE CRCT
The Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) is given every year in reading, English/language arts and math in first through eighth-grades. Students third through eight are also tested in science and social studies. Third-graders must pass reading and eighth-graders must pass reading and math in order to be promoted to the next grade. Due to budget cuts the CRCT wasn’t given in first and second grade during the 2013-14 school year. Next year, the CRCT will be replaced by a new, more challenging test called the Georgia Milestones Assessment System.
SOURCE: THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Tens of thousands of Georgia students struggle with math, though many are improving at reading, according to the results of the latest — and last — round of examinations on the state’s mandatory Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.
Math competence is seen as crucial in an increasingly global and technology-based economy, yet more than one in 10 students in every tested grade failed to meet Georgia’s basic standard in math. Nearly one in five third graders failed the test. Reading was a bright spot though, with a bigger percentage testing above grade level.
State officials Thursday released results from spring testing. Fifth- and eighth-grade students must pass the math exam to be promoted, yet pass rates dropped in both, leaving as many as 38,000 students vulnerable to being held back. Fourth and seventh grades also showed declines.
EXCLUSIVELY ON MYAJC.COM: 3RD, 5TH AND 8TH GRADERS' PERFORMANCE CHARTS
» CRCT SCORES: 3rd Grade | 5th Grade | 8th Grade | 8th Grade Math
Only statewide scores were revealed. Results for school districts and for individual schools will be released in coming weeks. But local officials have their own preliminary numbers, and Trenton Arnold, a regional superintendent in DeKalb County, said his district performance mirrors the state’s results.
“Math has always been a concern statewide,” Arnold said. DeKalb has tried to address the deficiencies by using computer data to identify students at risk of failing the tests. They are given tutoring in their weak areas, Arnold said.
State Superintendent John Barge said the declines in math were his biggest concern. The state set new math standards about a decade ago and is changing them again to the controversial Common Core. The switches — coupled with a greater depth of math instruction — may be possible causes, said state officials.
However, he highlighted the achievements in eighth grade, where an increased percentage of students exceeded standards in all five tested areas. Barge attributed their improved performance to a tougher curriculum.
“I think what we’re seeing is a group of students who have come through more rigorous standards,” Barge said.
The percentage point changes were generally slight, with many in the single digits. Dana Rickman, policy and research director with the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, said most were not statistically significant.
“It just looks like normal variation in big data,” she said. Over the long term, though, some changes look significant, she said. Math scores, for instance, have been “inching up ever so slowly” over the past five years, she noted.
Rickman was more impressed with the relatively big shifts in reading. In eighth and seventh grade, the proportion of students who exceeded the standard rose by 8 percentage points and was up by 6 in fifth grade. But it dropped by 6 in third grade. The vast majority of Georgia students are reading on grade level. The worst performance was in third grade, where 7.7 percent failed the reading test.
Students in grades three, five and eight must pass the reading exam to be promoted, so thousands may have to repeat a grade because of the reading scores.
State officials say they will release district-level results within two weeks and school-level outcomes within a month. It’s the student level scores that count for parents, and Atlanta mom Angela Lawson said her son Bryce exceeded most categories.
“If I had to pick his weakest subject it would be math, so we definitely try to put a lot of emphasis in that area,” she said. “But I’ve definitely seen a lot of growth.”
Lawson said despite the attention on the test she didn’t think it reflected his performance in school.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on that test and I don’t think that particular kind of standardized testing is the best,” she said.
She isn’t alone.
The CRCT has been a key instrument for judging the performance of teachers and schools, but Georgia is phasing it out. It will be replaced in the upcoming school year with a new instrument called the Georgia Milestones, which will continuously assess students throughout the school year with exams at the end of the year.
Barge, the state superintendent, said the initiative should identify areas where students need improvement. The exams will require students to think more critically, asking more open-ended questions than the multiple choice CRCT.
“I am glad the CRCT is gone,” Barge said.
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