One in five metro Atlanta third-, fifth- and eighth-graders failed the math section of the CRCT this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will be held back.
Some school systems are hoping their summer schools, along with some extra tutoring, will help their students pass the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests on the second try.
Other systems couldn't afford to hold summer school and opted to cram some extra study time into the last couple weeks of the school year to prepare CRCT strugglers for a retest.
State policy says students are required to pass certain portions of the CRCT in certain grades. But, that same policy also sets out a path for those students to be promoted nonetheless. For third-graders, the section they must pass is reading; and for fifth- and eighth-graders, they are reading and math. But failing those subjects – even a second time – doesn’t automatically mean a student is held back a year, according to state data.
School systems aren't required to report to the state whether they are promoting or holding back students based on CRCT scores.
But a look at the numbers that are available suggests not all who fail their CRCTs are held back.
In 2009, at least 77,910 of the state's third-, fifth- and eighth-graders failed the CRCT. But that year, only 61,642 students in all 12 grades were held back for a myriad of reasons, including poor attendance, classroom grades and CRCT scores.
In Gwinnett County, about 5,107 students in third, fifth and eighth grades failed the CRCT and only 5,922students in all grades were held back.
The reason may be: there's leeway in the process for deciding if someone who fails the CRCT is held back.
Students who fail the CRCT are automatically eligible for what's tantamount to tutoring and then a retest. Failure a second time on the test triggers the call for a conference of the student's teacher, the parents and principal.
"The people in that room are instructed to say: How would that child perform if promoted? Would they be successful?" said Dr. Howard Hendley, director of policy for the state Department of Education. "It's subjective to the extent that the professional judgment of principals differs."
The decision has to be unanimous among the parents, teacher and principal before the child is moved on or held back. It also can depend on the philosophy of a district's school board or school superintendent, Hendley said.
"Some give a little latitude. Some are very stingy [with promotions]," he said.
This year, some of the highest failure rates were in math. In the metro area, Atlanta Public Schools, had an average 34.1 percent failure rate for third, fifth and eighth grades in math.
DeKalb came in second with an average failure rate of 30.8 percent, followed by Clayton County, with 28.4 percent.
Gwinnett, the state's largest school system, had an average failure rate on the math portion of 14.8 percent. Cobb was 15.9 percent.
Chris Millett, founder of a math tutoring program at Turner Chapel AME in Marietta, said the results are not surprising.
"We've gone through years now where students have not been taught what they need to be taught in math," he said. "They're not being taught the building blocks. The state is so quick to get them into algebra and geometry classes."
Millett said the state's integrated math curriculum, adopted over the past few years, introduces students to too many concepts at once.
"I think that's one of the reasons you are seeing these higher failure numbers," he said. "It's scary. "
Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Keith Bromery said in an e-mail that APS is reviewing the CRCT results "to identify the root cause or causes of for the dip in performance at some grade levels at some schools."
One factor being examined is the new integrated math curriculum.
"It's a sea change in terms of how math is taught," Bromery said.
To help students catch up, DeKalb, Atlanta and Gwinnett are offering summer school. Cobb, Fulton and Clayton canceled summer school for budget reasons.
Those districts said the cuts amounted to savings of $1 million to $1.8 million. As an alternative, they had a few weeks of remedial studies before school dismissed for summer.
Last summer, Nathan Cox was in summer school.
He failed the CRCT in reading in 2009 as an eighth grader at Cobb County’s McClure Middle School. He and his teachers were surprised because based on his class work, the expectation was that he’d pass the reading portion and fail the math.
After summer school remediation, he passed the reading test on the second try. But his mother, Cathy Cox, said “it was painful to see him struggle.
“He’s not a lazy kid. He always wants to do his best,” she said. “It’s kind of like running a great race, and you don’t get to place in the end.”
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