New tests show poor academic performance

Trickum Middle in Gwinnett County: 47.5

Bay Creek Middle in Gwinnett: 42.7

Webb Bridge Middle in Fulton County: 41.5

North Gwinnett Middle in Gwinnett: 41.2

Berkmar Middle in Gwinnett: 40.2

Fourth grade English excellence percentage point decline:

Gwinnett Online Campus in Gwinnett: 60.9

Suwanee Elementary in Gwinnett: 56.8

Barnwell Elementary in Fulton: 54.1

Harmony Elementary in Gwinnett: 51.7

Picketts Mill Elementary in Cobb County: 51.6

Five metro Atlanta schools with the biggest increases in their proportion of students scoring at the bottom level of the 2015 Milestones tests versus the 2014 CRCTs.

Eighth grade math failure percentage point increase:

Intown Charter in Atlanta: 35

Gwinnett Intervention Education Center in Gwinnett: 29.6

Bunche Middle in Atlanta: 23.4

Harper Archer Middle in Atlanta: 23

Berkmar Middle in Gwinnett: 19.9

Fourth grade English failure percentage point increase:

Fain Elementary in Atlanta: 47.6

Parklane Elementary in Fulton County: 44.5

Hapeville Elementary in Fulton: 43.9

Briar Vista Elementary in DeKalb County: 43.8

Knollwood Elementary in DeKalb: 43.2

Finally, Georgia can use the words “among the best” and “education” in the same sentence, but unfortunately it’s not because students are performing better.

Quite the opposite, actually.

More kids are failing under the state’s new tougher tests and standards, but at least Georgia is being honest about how poorly they are doing, say two groups that analyzed the numbers.

The Georgia Board of Education knew it had low standards and decided to raise them, said Sandra Boyd, chief operating officer of Achieve, a national organization that advocates for higher standards. “And they really succeeded.”

Boy, did they.

In 2014, the last year the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests were given to Georgia students, more than 80 percent of fourth graders passed the reading exam and more than 90 percent of eighth graders passed math. Yet far fewer passed a federal exam that is considered the “gold standard” of testing, the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The achievement gap between the results on the CRCTs and the NAEP — Achieve calls it an “honesty gap” — was huge. Georgia had the biggest gap in the nation in fourth grade reading, reporting a pass rate that was 60 percentage points higher than the rate on the 2015 federal test. In eighth grade math, the pass rate on the state test was 53 percentage points higher than on the federal one.

Both Achieve and researchers at Harvard are praising Georgia for closing the reporting gap, which was really a gap in standards and expectations. Last year, Georgia implemented a new set of tests, the Milestones, which were aligned with new, tougher standards derived from the Common Core. Officials from the Georgia Department of Education warned that the new tests would be harder and that the score needed to pass would be higher. The result: proficiency rates plummeted and are basically in line with the NAEP pass rates. Fourth grade reading was within 3 percentage points and eighth grade math was within 9 points.

A team of researchers at Harvard's Kennedy School gave Georgia and 23 other states an "A" for raising the bar high enough to be "roughly comparable" to NAEP.

Ahieve said Georgia “is among the best in the nation at providing transparent information to parents.”

Those pushing for tougher standards say it’s important to know the truth, even if it’s painful. After all, to fix a problem one must first admit it exists.

“But now knowing the truth, parents and educators can start doing the work that they’ve always wanted to be doing, which is help students actually get to that achievement level and get to the skills to be truly prepared for life,” said Karen Nussle, executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success, which worked with Achieve on the study.

Georgia is taking steps to improve, including focusing on reading proficiency by the third grade, better training for teachers, and giving more authority and flexibility to school districts.

The tougher standards are hitting students across the spectrum. Many accustomed to scoring in the top tier under the old CRCTs are finding that they’ve dropped down a notch under the Milestones.

For instance, at Tucker Middle School in central DeKalb County, a quarter of the 2014 eighth graders scored in the top tier of that year’s math test, but 6 percent passed the new math test last year, for a 19 percentage point decline. Drops like that occurred across the district. At nearby Henderson Middle School, the decline was also 19 percentage points. Even Chamblee Middle School, a magnet school, saw a 14 percentage point drop.

School officials warned parents this would happen. Jennifer Winterscheidt, who has an eighth grader at Tucker Middle and is the PTA co-president, said she hasn’t heard from any alarmed parents. They figure it’s the result of a first run at a new test with a lot of kinks. That attitude may shift with the second year of Milestones tests this spring.

“I think they’d be more alarmed if they dropped again,” Winterscheidt said. “I would say that they would want to see some increase.”

Look up your school's performance in fourth grade English Language Arts and eighth grade math at myAJC.com education.