The number of Georgia students who flunked this year's high school graduation test rose by 7 percentage points -- a change blamed on the often-criticized integrated math curriculum that some school systems are now shelving.
Current high school juniors have been taught integrated math since 2006. But this is the first year that the Georgia High School Graduation Test evaluated them on how well they grasped learning algebra, geometry and statistics in a single course.
Statewide, 14,875 students of about 93,000 first-time test-takers -- or 16 percent -- couldn't pass math this year, results released Thursday show.
That compares with a 9 percent failure rate last year, when the math portion of the five-part graduation test was based on a less-rigorous curriculum known as Quality Core. It also goes against a slight improvement this year in the passing rates for the English/language arts, social studies and science portions of the test.
Results of the writing portion of the test will be released later, as will data on how students did in each school district and at each school.
State Superintendent John Barge said Thursday that he had expected a drop in math results.
“We expected a decline in results for the math portion of the GHSGT,” Barge said, “but based on feedback from school districts, we anticipated a more dramatic decline.”
Shortly after he took office in January, Barge began pushing to give the state's 180 school districts the option of teaching integrated math or returning to a more traditional method of teaching students math one discipline at a time.
The state Board of Education voted in March to follow his recommendation. Had it not, some legislators were threatening to take action of their own, saying that they had long been barraged with complaints about parents having to hire private tutors and students failing by the thousands.
"A one-size-fits-all approach is not in the best interest of all of our students, but high expectations and our rigorous curriculum are right for them all," Barge said.
In Cobb County, officials said they've already gotten word that their math passing rate dropped 1 percentage point to 93 percent this year.
Michelle Mikes, a former math teacher who is now the 6-12 math supervisor for Cobb County schools, said Thursday that she believes local students outperformed most of the state on the math test due to "the dedication and determination of our teachers."
"They go above and beyond," providing extra help to students before and after school and on Saturdays, Mikes said.
They also have been well trained and do regular assessments so they know early whether a student is running into trouble, she said.
Statewide, Mikes said, she believes the issue is the rigor of the classwork more than the integration of the different math concepts.
The prior high school graduation math test was evaluating students on what's now being taught in the middle schools, she said.
"We're expecting a lot more out of the students," Mikes said.
Debbie Poss, a math teacher at Cobb's Lassiter High School and president of the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said test results should improve as students and teachers become more familiar with the state's more rigorous math curriculum.
"We celebrate all students who have learned more and understand more mathematics than they would have under the QCC, regardless of their performance on this high-stakes test," Poss said, referring to the Quality Core Curriculum.
On the other portions of this year's graduation test, passing rates were up slightly statewide. They rose from 90 percent to 91 percent on English/language arts, 90 percent to 93 percent on science and 78 percent to 80 percent on social studies.
This is the last year that students have to pass the test to receive a full diploma.
Starting next year, all students but incoming freshmen will have the option of taking the graduation test or the equivalent End-of-Course Tests. Freshmen will be taking End-of-Course Tests that are increasing in weight.
Students currently take the graduation test for the first time in the spring of their junior year. Those who fail can retake one or more parts as many times as needed.
Statewide results of 2011 Georgia High School Graduation Test
English/language arts
2011 -- 9 percent failed
2010 -- 10 percent failed
Science
2011 -- 7 percent failed
2010 -- 10 percent failed
Social studies
2011 -- 20 percent failed
2010 -- 22 percent failed
Math *
2011 -- 16 percent failed
2010 -- 9 percent failed
*Note: Math test was based on the integrated math (Georgia Performance Standards) in 2011. The test was based on Quality Core Curriculum in 2010.
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