State Test Scores Fall After Pandemic At Oconee County Schools

Students in Oconee County Schools scored lower on 17 of the 25 Georgia Milestones Assessment System measures released last month than they did in July of 2019 when the state last released results from the standardized tests.

Across the state, test scores were lower in 2021 than they were in 2019, likely reflecting differences in the education experiences of students in the last academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as differences in testing procedures.

Even with the drop in scores, Oconee County Schools saw a decline in its rank among other school systems in the state in only five of the 25 possible comparisons and saw increases in 11 comparisons.

The gains were not enough, however, to forestall a drop from 1 to 3 in the ranking of Oconee County Schools by SchoolDigger.com or move it up from its number 2 ranking by Niche.com. Both use the Milestone data in their rankings.

Oconee County Schools has heavily promoted its ranking by SchoolDigger.com since it was announced following the release of the state testing data in 2019.

At the Board of Education meeting on Monday, Anisa Sullivan Jimenez, director of Communications for Oconee County Schools, presented the Board with a new release of “Quick Facts” about Oconee County Schools.

Oconee County Schools is still the “#1 School System in Georgia” on that fact sheet, which on Sunday was on the school system’s web page.

For more on this story, please go to Oconee County Observations.