Georgia school districts reached different conclusions about the right path forward after glitches mared the online administration of the Georgia Milestones tests. Some are, and others are not, using a new state waiver from mandatory use of the scores in decisions on holding younger students back. Also, some are choosing to retest students who failed while others are not. Here’s what metro Atlanta districts are doing:
Atlanta Public Schools: Retesting but undecided about using the scores
Clayton County Public Schools: Not retesting and not using the scores
Cobb County School District: Retesting but not using the scores
DeKalb County Schools: Undecided about retesting but not using the scores
Fulton County Schools: Not retesting and not using the scores
Gwinnett County Public Schools: Undecided about retesting but not using the scores
Debra Weidinger got a frantic text message from her daughter last month, after the ninth-grade student’s computer shut down in the middle of a Georgia Milestones test.
The essay she’d written for the state’s most important standardized test was deleted.
The Northview High School student faces stiff competition for college admissions and scholarships. “These tests matter,” said Weidinger, who had to calm her child down in a phone call afterward, “so I was upset.”
There were stories of children crying and even vomiting as they were repeatedly logged out of the state testing system software. Computers froze. Internet service went down. Tests went unfinished.
Withering social media posts and emails from outraged parents ensued, and the state and local systems reacted, but in an unstandardized way. This caused more confusion and more questions about the wisdom of such high-stakes “accountability” tests.
The Georgia Board of Education allowed schools to waive the test results in decisions about holding younger students back a grade, and some districts are taking the waiver while others may not. Also, some districts are going to retest students who failed while others will not, and some are waiting to see the scores before they decide.
The retests happen every year, but some districts feel it’s unnecessary this time.
“Why make these students go through that again,” said Tim Jarboe, the testing director for the Clarke County School District, in the Athens area.
Districts that are going to retest give a variety of reasons.
The scores can be used to place students in different classes, and retesting gives them “another opportunity to demonstrate mastery,” said Atlanta Public Schools’ data chief Rubye Sullivan. Mary Elizabeth Davis, the chief academic officer in Cobb County, said her district wants to give students who failed a chance to prove themselves. “There’s a lot of self-confidence tied to the tests,” she said. Georgia Department of Education spokesman Matt Cardoza said the results help teachers decide what kind of help students need.
But some suspect districts are trying to burnish their scores to protect themselves, since poor results can negatively affect both teacher evaluations and school ratings.
“The only reason for them to retest is to try and fluff their scores,” said Meg Norris, founder of group called Opt Out Georgia, which opposes the state standardized tests.
Under federal law, schools must give their students standardized tests, and Georgia uses the results to evaluate teachers. The state education department is advising that this year’s test scores be thrown out for teacher evaluations, but the decision rests with the state’s teacher licensing agency and hasn’t been made yet.
Even if the scores are tossed for use with teachers, district leaders have to worry about their schools' College and Career Ready Performance Index ratings, based in part on test results. Schools that score poorly take a reputation hit. They could also get taken over by the state if a constitutional amendment on the November ballot wins voter approval.
The tests were already unpopular with some parents, including Weidinger, the mother in north Fulton. She refused to allow her fifth-grade daughter to take them, but said her daughter in high school had no choice, since the scores count for a fifth of the course grade. To her, they’re a “waste of time,” not helpful.
Linda McCain, the chairwoman of the Fulton County school board, said it’s a growing sentiment. “There are plenty of folks who believe their kids are being used to evaluate teachers,” she said, “and they don’t want them used that way.” The computer disruptions seem to be stirring more frustration with standardized tests, she said.
It’s unclear how many students were affected. State testing director Melissa Fincher said 7 percent of “testing sessions” were disrupted. Each student takes nine sessions, and 415,000 third- through eighth-graders took the tests online, about half the students in that age group. The rest used pencil and paper.
The department took responsibility only for network “lagging” on April 19, and attributed the rest of the disruptions to local school districts’ technical capacity and preparation.
Local districts said they didn’t cause the problems. “I personally do not feel that it was a district issue at all,” said Shannon Buff, a school administrator in Newton County. “We have a great technology department and they worked countless hours to get this right,” she said.
Newton was hard hit, with Buff fielding “quite a few” calls from upset parents. She even got a text message from her own son, an eighth-grade student who was “beyond upset.” His computer had repeatedly logged him out, erasing what he’d typed in a writing test.
Buff visited a school and heard stories about children crying and even vomiting. A teacher complained that 20 of her 21 students had suffered disruptions. Buff’s son, Braxton, said more than half of the two dozen or so test takers in his room were similarly interrupted. He didn’t finish his test.
“I was freaking out,” he said. “Everyone was really frustrated and nervous. It was ridiculous.”
Unlike with the elementary and middle school tests, the Georgia Department of Education says there have been no significant technical problems with the high school Milestones, which are still being administered.
At least one school district disagrees.
The Fulton school board decided this week to ask the state to consider waiving the effects of the high school scores, too. The district is seeking a blanket waiver and not just one for those affected by the technical problems, said McCain, the school board member.
“Where were the specific outages? We don’t know, and there’s not a lot of time here,” she said. “This is going to affect students’ grades in the next few weeks.”
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