The state considers the Georgia Milestones test an accountability lever; scores on the homegrown high-stakes exam can override a teacher’s judgment and negate a student’s efforts.
Where is the evidence the two-year-old test accurately measures either higher quality teaching or learning? That’s the pivotal question facing the Legislature and state Department of Education after a marred second round of Georgia Milestones testing deepened public skepticism toward standardized exams.
In some metro districts, computers froze, repeatedly logging students off the state testing system software and forcing multiple restarts. Tests spread across days rather than hours. Then, results failed to come back on time, causing Cobb and other districts to cancel planned retests and leaving high school students hanging. At DeKalb’s Lakeside High School, for example, 10 seniors walked at graduation only to find out weeks later they did not earn diplomas after their Milestones scores were finally tabulated.
DOE should be engaged in ongoing and frequent discussion with district superintendents and IT directors about what went wrong and what can be done to assure a smoother process next year. However, in the larger picture, Georgia has to work with front-line educators to resolve whether the validity, reliability and efficacy of the new Milestones have been vetted enough to use it to rate students, teachers or schools.
It’s apparent the technical aspects need refinement. This year’s expanded online testing did not go well. DOE and districts traded blame for the glitches resulting from a combination of bandwidth issues, server strain, hardware failure and application errors.
As a Fulton teacher said, “No one could sustain concentration. All the swapping out of equipment alone is an issue, but what about starting and restarting questions and then trying to formulate answers? It’s ridiculous. Kids’ promotion, retention, and possible summer school attendance as well as class placements should not be based on these results.”
The state Board of Education agreed, waiving the requirement schools use Milestones scores in their retention decisions. But the problems didn’t end with administering the tests. About 80 school districts — nearly half statewide — did not receive all of their results on time.
Georgia gives end-of-course Milestones in core high school classes. The state requires the subject tests — which are neither created nor graded by classroom teachers — to count for 20 percent of a student’s final course grade, which can mean the difference between an A and a B. Despite reported computer snafus and a request from Fulton Schools, the 20 percent rule was not waived by the state school board, upsetting parents whose children are at risk for losing the HOPE or Zell Miller Scholarship.
Georgia has succeeded in making the Milestones consequential; it has yet to make them credible.
About the Author
