Students Exceed State Averages On Georgia Milestones

From the Cherokee County School District:

For the second year in a row, Cherokee County School District students have exceeded state averages on the 2016 Georgia Milestones End‐of‐Grade and End‐of‐Course tests, which are used to assess the mastery of Georgia Performance Standards.

Milestones End‐of‐Grade (EOG) exams are administered every spring in grades 3‐8 in the subjects of English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies; Milestones End‐of‐Course (EOC) exams are administered for designated high school courses. Additionally, middle school students who are taking any of those courses for high school credit must also take the EOC for that subject.

The tests include open‐ended questions to better assess students’ content mastery; and, with some exceptions for special education students with specific testing accommodations, the tests will be administered entirely online to students statewide within five years. Cherokee County schools, however, already have met the state’s five‐year goal.

While Milestones’ achievement levels are reported as percentages of students who are Beginning, Developing, Proficient or Distinguished Learners, it should be noted that these percentages include English Language Learners and students who receive special education services.

Although comparing scores from year to year is not an accurate reflection of success due to differing groups of students being assessed, average scores have increased overall for the district.

For third‐grade, the percentage of district students achieving Developing to Distinguished scores was: 76 percent for English language arts (as compared to 67 percent for Georgia), 88 percent for math (79 percent Georgia), 84 percent for science (76 percent Georgia) and 84 percent for social studies (75 percent for Georgia).

For fifth‐grade, the percentage of district students achieving Developing to Distinguished scores was: 82 percent for English language arts (75 percent Georgia), 84 percent for math (74 percent Georgia), 80 percent for science (70 percent Georgia) and 83 percent for social studies (75 percent Georgia).

For eighth‐grade, the percentage of students achieving Developing to Distinguished scores was: 89 percent for English language arts (80 percent Georgia), 89 percent for math (79 percent Georgia), 74 percent for science (65 percent Georgia) and 84 percent for social studies (75 percent Georgia).

Math and science totals include EOG and EOC tests.

For high school credit courses, the percentage of district students achieving Developing to Distinguished scores was: 88 percent for ninth-grade literature and composition (78 percent Georgia), 86 percent for Algebra (70 percent Georgia), 88 percent for American literature and composition (76 percent for Georgia), 87 percent for analytic geometry (70 percent Georgia), 81 percent for biology (68 percent Georgia), 79 percent for physical science (66 percent Georgia), 88 percent for U.S. History (77 percent Georgia) and 87 percent for economics (81 percent Georgia).

District and school leadership teams are analyzing these scores to improve teaching and learning strategies and School Improvement Plans. These scores are counted toward calculation of the district's College and Career Ready Performance Index scores; while the 2016 scores were not used to determine if students are ready to be promoted to the next grade, future results will be used for this purpose.

"We congratulate our students, teachers and administrators for their continued exceptional performance on these new tests, which shows they’re mastering knowledge crucial to career and college readiness, and we have set our sights on greater success for every child in the coming year," Cherokee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Hightower.

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