Metro Atlanta high school students generally performed well on end-of-course tests, according to district by district figures released by the Georgia Department of Education this week.
A majority of those tested in every metro Atlanta district met or exceeded performance standards in physical science and biology, but math presented more of a challenge.
Beginning with the upcoming school year, end-of-course tests will be used as a factor in determining a school's progress in Georgia's college and career readiness performance index. That index replaces the annual yearly progress measurement.
As with the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, students taking end-of-course tests are determined to have met, exceeded or failed to meet the standard for a particular subject area.
Districts in Forsyth, Gwinnett, Fayette and Cherokee led the way. About 91 percent of biology test-takers met or exceeded the performance standard in Forsyth, with 87.5 percent meeting or exceeding the standard in Fayette and 85.7 percent doing so in Cherokee.
Nearly all physical science test-takers in Gwinnett — 98.6 percent — met or exceeded the performance standard in that subject.
About 93 percent met or exceeded the physical science standard in Cobb and Forsyth, and 91 percent did the same in Cherokee.
"Students, parents, teachers and administrators are commended for this documented evidence of continued progress in improving achievement for all students," Cherokee County Schools Superintendent Frank Petruzielo wrote in a memo to members of his school board.
While students in metro Atlanta districts performed well in science, about 54 percent of test-takers in Atlanta Public Schools failed to meet the standard in Mathematics I. Also, 50.4 percent of test-takers in Clayton County and 46 percent in DeKalb County failed to meet the standard in that subject.
Test-takers in those districts also struggled in Mathematics II, with 69 percent in APS, 65.4 percent in Clayton and 51.4 percent in DeKalb not meeting the standard.
The Math I and II courses — which are no longer to be offered by districts as Georgia moves to a new curriculum — have drawn criticism from educators and parents alike for their workload and rigor, and many metro Atlanta districts had most of their students take geometry and algebra instead.
Those who took end-of-course tests in those subjects had higher test scores. In Cherokee, 87 percent met or exceeded the standard in geometry and 80.3 percent met or exceeded it in algebra. Fulton County saw 70 percent of test-takers meet or exceed the standard in geometry and 67.9 percent met or exceeded the standard in algebra.
In districts across the state, Georgia students improved in a variety of subject areas measured by the end-of-course tests.
Statewide, the tests — now 20 percent of a student's final grade in 9th and 10th grades as opposed to the 15 percent they represented before — showed improved performance in 2012 in U.S. history, economics, biology, physical science, ninth-grade literature, American literature and Mathematics I compared with 2011. Math II saw a decrease of 1 percent.
End-of-course tests are replacing the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
"End-of-course tests are more rigorous than the Georgia High School Graduation Tests, so increases are further testament to the great job our teachers are doing delivering the Georgia Performance Standards to students in a way that they are grasping," state schools Superintendent John Barge said.
The results offer a district-level view of the statewide results released earlier this month. School-level results are expected to be released before the end of July.
Michelle Easley, a 2011 graduate of Decatur High School and now a rising sophomore at the University of Georgia, said the end-of-course tests were not difficult.
"I remember them being really easy, especially for English," Easley said.
That the tests weren't hard is not an indictment of the schools, Easley said — just the opposite. "It means the school did a good job."
"End-of-Course Tests (EOCT) for Metro area school districts, Spring 2012"
Biology TAB Physical Science
School system TAB Number Tested TAB Percent did not meet standard Percent met or exceeded standard TAB Mean Score * TAB Letter Grade
School system TAB Number Tested Percent did not meet standard Percent met or exceeded standard TAB Mean Score * TAB Letter Grade
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS "2,673" 46.5 53.5 73.00 C ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 791 41.1 58.9 75.00 C
CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS "2,953" 14.3 85.7 87.00 B CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,733" 9.1 90.9 91.00 A
CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION "3,828" 48.0 52.0 72.00 C CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION "3,762" 33.0 67.0 79.00 C
COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS "6,009" 17.5 82.5 86.00 B COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS 615 6.7 93.3 91.00 A
DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS "5,110" 38.0 62.0 76.00 C DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS "3,054" 40.4 59.6 75.00 C
FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,787" 12.5 87.5 88.00 B FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS 2 — — — FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS "2,926" 8.9 91.1 90.00 A FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS "4,469" 7.3 92.7 91.00 A
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS "7,306" 21.4 78.6 86.00 B FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS "4,472" 25.7 74.3 84.00 B
GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS "12,985" 19.8 80.2 85.00 B GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS "3,538" 1.4 98.6 92.00 A
GPS Geometry ** TAB GPS Algebra **
School system TAB Number Tested TAB Percent did not meet standard TAB Percent met or exceeded standardTAB Mean Score * TAB Letter Grade School system TAB Number Tested TAB Percent did not meet standard TAB Percent met or exceeded standard TAB Mean Score * TAB Letter Grade
CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS "2,866" 12.7 87.3 85.00 B CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS "2,875" 19.7 80.3 80.00 B
CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 1 — — COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS 161 70.8 29.2 66.00 D COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS "5,918" 38.5 61.5 74.00 C
DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS 177 10.7 89.3 88.00 B DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,005" 36.3 63.7 74.00 C
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS "7,249" 30.4 69.6 81.00 B FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS "7,254" 32.1 67.9 80.00 B
Mathematics I TAB Mathematics II School system
Number Tested TAB Percent did not meet standard TAB Percent met or exceeded standard TAB Mean Score * TAB Letter Grade
TAB School system Number Tested TAB Percent did not meet standard TAB Percent met or exceeded standard TAB Mean Score *TAB Letter Grade
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS "3,126" 53.8 46.2 70.00 C ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS "2,693" 69.1 30.9 67.00 D
CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS 24 62.5 37.5 69.00 D CHEROKEE COUNTY SCHOOLS 30 70.0 30.0 67.00 D
CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION "3,769" 50.4 49.6 70.00 C CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION "3,698" 65.4 34.6 67.00 D
COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,689" 3.3 96.7 91.00 A COBB COUNTY SCHOOLS "6,195" 27.4 72.6 78.00 C
DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS "5,466" 46.0 54.0 72.00 C DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS "5,284" 51.4 48.6 71.00 C
FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,913" 11.3 88.7 87.00 B FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,720" 13.3 86.7 83.00 B
FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS "3,027" 10.5 89.5 86.00 B FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS "1,983" 17.5 82.5 79.00 C
FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS 17 47.1 52.9 68.00 D FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS 31 71.0 29.0 68.00 D
GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS "14,063" 23.4 76.6 81.00 B GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS "7,820" 41.6 58.4 72.00 C
Source: George Department of Education Compiled by newsroom data specialist Kelly Guckian * Conversion of Mean Scale Score to a number on a scale from 1 to 100. ** Only 19 systems statewide reports results for GPS Geometry and 35 systems reported results for GPS Algebra.
About the Author
