DOE releases statewide CRCT results: More kids exceed, but slight decline in some math, science scores
From DOE on this year’s CRCT results:
The 2012 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) results show more students are exceeding the standards than last year. Results also showed a one-year improvement in the percentage of students meeting and exceeding on 20 of the 30 content-area tests.
“The best news in the 2012 CRCT report is that more of our students are exceeding the standards,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “Teachers are doing a great job teaching the more rigorous Georgia Performance Standards and they are to be applauded for raising expectations for all students.”
Exceeding the Standards: One Year Improvement on 24 of the 30 Content-Area Tests
- Grade 3: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percentage of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 7, 3, 3, 3, and 4 percentage points, resp
- Grade 4: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percentage of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies increased by 6, 1, 4, and 2 percentage points, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard in Mathematics remained the same.
- Grade 5: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies increased by 5, 4, and 1 percentage point, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard decreased by 2 points in Reading and 5 points in Mathematics.
- Grade 6: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 6, 2, 4, and 4 percentage points, respectively. The percentage of students exceeding the standard remained the same for English/Language Arts.
- Grade 7: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies increased by 3, 5, 6, 6, and 4 percentage points, respectively.
- Grade 8: When comparing 2012 performance to 2011, the percent of students exceeding the standard in Reading, Science, and Social Studies increased by 4, 1, and 3 percentage points, respectively. The percent of students exceeding the standard decreased by 3 percentage points in English/Language Arts, and remained the same in Mathematics.
Meets and Exceeds the Standards: One Year Improvement on 20 of the 30 Content-Area Tests
When comparing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standard, the greatest gains were seen in grade 5 Social Studies (+6 percentage points) and grade 8 Science (+7 percentage points). There were decreases in four areas: grade 3 Science (-2 percentage points), grade 4 Mathematics (-1 percentage point), grade 5 Mathematics (-3 percentage points), and grade 8 Mathematics (-1 percentage point). There were no changes on six tests.
“While I am pleased to see an increase in the majority of the exams, I am concerned about those where we saw decreases or no change at all,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “As we begin teaching the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards next school year, we know the curriculum and the tests will be more difficult, so we must continue to focus on successfully implementing the new standards. We have been offering, and will continue to offer, teachers the necessary professional development to ensure they are equipped to deliver these new, more rigorous standards and to prepare our students for the next step.”
Promotion/Retention: State law requires that students in third, fifth, and eighth grade meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in Reading in order to be promoted. Fifth and eighth grade students must also meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in Mathematics
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
84 comments Add your comment
Scores
June 14th, 2012
2:29 pm
To “Where is My School,” according to the DOE website: “District-level results will be available no later than June 28. School-level results will be available no later than July 12.”
Ron F.
June 14th, 2012
2:35 pm
mountain man: @12:32- if you read my whole post, he wasn’t retained and has either exceeded tested standards or very nearly every year since. He’s heading to high school next year and reads and writes as well as his brother who was labeled gifted in second grade. It was all about test anxiety for him. Not all kids are that lucky, but I have found that quite a few kids don’t do well on standardized tests that are capable and quite successful otherwise. I do a lot of one-on-one testing, using at least two different methods, to diagnose my struggling freshmen. Sometimes it verifies the CRCT scores, but sometimes it doesn’t. I tailor instruction based on the results of all the data, including CRCT scores, but never rely on that as a sole indicator. That’s how I get progress from my students, and it’s worth the extra work to be sure I know exactly what they can do.
Mona
June 14th, 2012
2:51 pm
If you really want to know if students are making gains, then you need to compare the scores of the same children from year to year. If you want to know if the 3rd graders tested in 2011 made gains, then you need to test them in 4th grade in 2012 & compare those scores to each other & so on & so on.
You cannot compare the 3rd graders tested in 2011 to the scores of the 3rd graders tested in 2012 & determine if the children made gains & how much they gained (or lost) when you are not comparing the scores of the same children!
You have to follow the same children throughout their school career & compare their test results year after year! Otherwise, you are comparing two different sample groups & are comparing apples and oranges!
Please learn how to correctly compare test scores because politicians & some of the people in the media want the children to fail (at least on paper) & blame the public schools & teachers. The public needs to know that, in reality, what they are saying is based on lies & false information!
These people do this so their rich buddies can open up private schools, pay the teachers nothing & their friends (and perhaps themselves) become richer & richer while they receive tax payer money in order to pay the students tutition.
Please remember, the IOWA test is a better measure of how your children are doing since you are comparing your children to the children in the rest of the country. I didn’t care how my children did on these ridiculous & wasteful state tests. I was more concerned how they were doing compared to the children in the rest of the country!
My sons are now 22 & 23. The 22 year old earned his A.A. in Culinary Arts & just earned his B.A. in Business & graduated Cum Laude from Johnson & Wales University. He has been working in a very fine dining restaurant in Fort Lauderdale since his junior year in college.
My 23 year old earned his B.A. in Accounting last year & graduated Valedictorian of the entire student body at Georgia State University. He is working as an accountant & is in the process of getting his Master’s degree & will eventually earn his CPA.
Please don’t let these people continue to be dishonest with you.
RBN
June 14th, 2012
3:29 pm
Virtually meeaningless when you only have to get half correct to meet standard.
Addie Price
June 14th, 2012
3:50 pm
I’m glad students are doing better but they are being taught to take a test instead of taught actual lessons. http://addieprice.hubpages.com/hub/High-Pressured-CRCT
Paulo977
June 14th, 2012
3:56 pm
(field trips, lab equipment, smaller class sizes, less disruptions, etc.)
___________________________________________________
Yeah trips to Fernbank science center which the Dekalb County School Superintendent is adamant about closing !!!!!!!!……..Lord help the working poor!!
Eric
June 14th, 2012
3:57 pm
Okay, so what does it really mean, that is what is the implication, of a child that meet or exceeds the standard? These are artificial benchmarks, so that if the standards are raised again, fewer children might meet the standard or not. So would one of those “experts” please explain the significance of meeting the standard? We just feel good that kids are so smart? Were kids 100 years ago dumb since they didn’t have the standards? Why do we need them now?
Paulo977
June 14th, 2012
4:07 pm
Addie Price
’m glad students are doing better but they are being taught to take a test instead of taught actual lessons. http://addieprice.hubpages.com/hub/High-Pressured-CRCT
_____________________________________________
Absolutely ….this is the REAL cheating ….not providing a learning climate for kids to explore , interact with each other , participate in hands-on activities ., and talk , talk , talk about what they are doing!!!!
justjanny
June 14th, 2012
4:10 pm
@ Sandy Springs Parent
differniate ?? Did you mean differentiate?
Old timer
June 14th, 2012
4:28 pm
No one was retained during thenlastnfewnyearsnImtaughtnin Clayton County……I had many in my sixth grade reading who had never passed the. cRCT.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
June 14th, 2012
4:33 pm
(M)ystery poster,
You didn’t read far enough.
jerry eads
June 14th, 2012
5:22 pm
Mona – you’re kinda correct, but remember that each grade’s CRCT is (supposed to be) a new version or versions every year. It takes REALLY complex statistical analyses to link those tests from year to year, and there is ALWAYS a little bit (in some cases a whole lot) of error.
The OTHER “little” problem is that we CANNOT compare, let’s say, last year’s third grade class with this year’s fourth because the tests are not scaled (the necessary incredibly complex analyses were never done to link the tests from one year to the next), even though since 1998 we COULD have compared individual students’ performance from year to year (yes, we’ve had that capacity all these years). The reason we can’t is there’s been NO outside review of whether the fourth grade “standards” have proper scope and sequence compared to the third grade “standards” scope and sequence. AND there has never been a program in place to do all the statistical analyses to relate the 3rd and 4th grade tests (or any other grade levels). Because the “standards” may not represent a proper curriculum, it may not even be possible to undertake these analyses. (At the high school level, such scaling may not be possible in any event – Physics, for example, is not a “growth” from Algebra II)
Your point about the ITBS is very well taken. While I can’t attest to the current test, several decades ago I hired VERY well respected curriculum experts to review all the then current norm-referenced tests for Virginia’s state NRT test competition. The ITBS was FAR and away the best on the market in terms of the scope and sequence of the curriculum. We, of course, picked it as the state test. To the best of my knowledge, NONE of that amazing work done to develop the ITBS was ever done to build either a state curriculum or the state minimum competency tests (the CRCTs and EOCTs and all the other CTs are nothing more than that) that are supposed to SOLELY reflect such a state curriculum. As someone noted earlier in this discussion, these tests do not come from a burning bush. – Ah. I should point out that it’s conceivable that the state knew enough to properly develop a curriculum. There’s at least one person on the state staff that has the requisite skills to do proper test development (once upon a time there were at least two, but they fired one as the fall guy for a test booboo). Proper curriculum and test development, however, take tons of dollars that I suspect the state simply could not afford.
I dearly hope that, but respectfully question whether, we will get tests from the testing club (PARCC) that will reflect what is hopefully a CURRICULUM that reflects higher order skills (and not just primarily factoid recognition) that will enable us to actually look at a reasonable representation of student growth over time. As I learned from my relatively central involvement in the New Standards Project of the 90’s, such development is incredible expensive. Let’s hope the shared investment from many states makes if affordable, and that PARCC doesn’t simply turn into another effort at scripted instruction for teachers.
KIM
June 14th, 2012
5:24 pm
ITBS and CRCT can’t be compared. They measure different things.
Bernie
June 14th, 2012
5:38 pm
Sandy Springs Parent @10:55 am – Come on now! you mean to tell me we are to take the opinion of a 6th grader as fact? I am not buying this at all and if anyone here does they are just as gullible as this Sandy Springs parent. maybe this parent will buy into such nonsense, but no one in their right mind would take anything that a 6th grades says as true and accurate. I am starting to wonder who is really making the decisions in that household. Unbelievable!
Vince
June 14th, 2012
5:48 pm
@ Doctor AJ
Sorry to bust another myth, but Georgia already does very well compared nationally. The best assessment to measure this is the NAEP. Check it out.
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
Ed Johnson
June 14th, 2012
6:04 pm
“Please remember, the IOWA test is a better measure of how your children are doing since you are comparing your children to the children in the rest of the country.”
Now compare that with what the ITBS publisher says…
National Percentile Rank — A Percentile Rank indicating the status or relative rank of a student’s score compared to a nationally representative sample of examinees.
Source: http://www.riversidepublishing.com/scoring/glossary/default.jsp (accessed 6/14/2012)
It is your child “compared to a nationally representative sample of examinees.”
It is not “comparing your children to the children in the rest of the country.”
Let’s stop trying to make the ITBS be something other than what the ITBS publisher tells us the ITBS is.
Again…
The ITBS is a norm-referenced test. It is intentionally designed and redesigned to always rank about half of test takers above average and about half below average. It tends to include test items the more affluent get right and the more impoverished get wrong, and to exclude test items the more affluent get wrong and the more impoverished get right. Thus doing well on the ITBS simply means attaining high rank and not necessarily demonstrating learning excellence.
And when the more impoverished test takers start doing well on the ITBS, as they invariably do, a new form or a new norm for the ITBS comes out to reestablish the 50 above/50 below percentile rankings.
None of this is to say the ITBS shouldn’t be used or isn’t useful. Of course it can be. The CRCT can be useful, too, provided it is used to actually help learn to improve teaching and learning rather than for beating up on teachers and learners. But if the ITBS ends up being used like the CRCT, it should be clear that even greater damage will result.
Mark Poole
June 14th, 2012
6:40 pm
I see a lot of comments that support retention. I was just wondering what the success rate of retention is.
And the beat goes on....
June 14th, 2012
6:55 pm
And do you know why they exceeded? Poor economy. Test scores always rise during a poor economy because there is not money for remediation. The DOE cannot just let the scores rise from failing to passing; too obvious. All the scores must rise, which leads to more students exceeding. When the economy gets better, test scores will decline. Sad, but true.
testing is a joke
June 14th, 2012
7:03 pm
I find it difficult to be happy about the CRCT test results. I watched students who are in middle school pass the reading portion of the CRCT who could only read on a 3rd grade level. The reading and language arts portions of the CRCT were so easy this year, at least at the middle school level, that I would have found it more surprising if the majority of students didn’t pass. I think Georgia is wasting money on a test that really doesn’t produce reliable results. Yes, I administered the test and had to read several sections to subgroups that required it to be read to them, so I saw first hand how easy it was.
Lynn (current teacher)
June 14th, 2012
7:17 pm
Drew, YOU are soooo right. They are passed anyway (even after that sham of summer school charade) and when they stumble through ninth grade, the blame game begins. Our education system is a joke! Nothing is really earned now.
Ron F.
June 14th, 2012
7:39 pm
@ Mark Poole: Here’s a link to a paper in the Eric digest that discusses some of the recent research on retention. A simple “no pass, no promote” policy alone isn’t effective. It can be if done right. I’m not a fan of social promotion, but retention has to be a carefully made decision, based on more than just a single test score. I’ve seen it work for some kids and not others. Read this summary- hope it helps.
http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/policy.htm
mountain man
June 15th, 2012
6:37 am
Ron F. – you (and your cohorts) are the reason we have 9th graders who cannot read and write. The ones on the “prison track”.
ScienceTeacher671
June 15th, 2012
7:59 am
I have trouble celebrating the rest when the math scores are so abysmal.
And remember that unless a child “exceeds”, s/he is not even close to being on grade level.
Cobb County Parent
June 15th, 2012
8:58 am
I’m still laughing my _____ off about these scores. My daughter exceeded in all 4th grade categories, which would mean zippo to me as I know that CRCT is a crappy test. But… she wanted to review her scores individually, so I took the time to look further. She nailed every subject but social studies, where she basically earned an “F” with less than 60% correct. I told her this and her reply was, “But they said I exceeded expectations.” I informed her that yes, she did, but they actually expected her to FAIL in that category, so the bar was lowered. Wish you could have seen her eyes light up when she realized the joke was on her.
I then spent some time discussing the social study questions that she remembered being on the test (as you know, they wouldn’t want to share that information with the parents). She stated that the section did give her some trouble since some of the topics were never covered in class. Don’t know if this is a curriculum short-coming or her teacher’s issue. And before anyone jumps all over me about dumping on her teacher, I want to clarify that I have spent ALL of last year stressing over her somewhat uneducated teacher. I’ve even had to point out incorrect math calculations and correct her spelling “corrections” when my daughter actually spelled the word correctly in the first place. I’ve also pointed out grammatical errors to my daughter so she wouldn’t follow the leader, her teacher.
It was a hard year and I’m glad it is over. I just wonder who that teacher knows so that she kept her job (without earning “tenure”) while other more experienced teachers were let go. Disgusting!
Ron F.
June 15th, 2012
9:11 am
@mountain man 6:37- Tell you what, you come do it for a while and get back to me about how to do it better. I’ve spent a lot of years teaching the kids you often look down upon, and I see much more progress from them than the “good” kids. It takes patience, love, and a hell of lot of determination. I don’t always agree with you, but I never resort to such a despicable level of commentary about your views. You have no idea how hard I work, and if you think education would be better without me and my “cohorts” then get your degree and get yourself in a classroom.
AlreadySheared
June 15th, 2012
9:26 am
We’re past that now, but I always thought the CRCTs were a joke. I never spent a minute with either kid on practice tests or whatnot and they always killed it.
What a waste of time, for the test prep in school, the testing time itself, and then the anticlimactic lost 4 weeks AFTER the tests are done when effectively some schools simply grind to a halt.
Mama Mia
June 15th, 2012
5:39 pm
My son EXCEEDED expectations on all portions of the CRCT with the exception of science (he met expectations and was short of exceeding by 8 points). Report card was all A+. Grounds for boasting right? But wait… he barely passed the 8th grade writing test. Oh, and on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills he came out in the 78th percentile.
Truth in Moderation
June 15th, 2012
10:22 pm
This year two of my home schoolers had some interesting test results.
My 5th grader has dyscalculia which not only puts him at a disadvantage for math testing but also TIMED testing. His 2nd grade ITBS scores were lower than they should have been, based on his daily subject work and curriculum tests. This time around, I opted for the Stanford 10 because it is not timed. I wanted to know what he knows, not how well he performs under a time constraint. Also, to help with his arithmetic disability, I have been drilling him daily, year round, since he was five. This is what it takes to help him improve in these skills. The hard work and test selection paid off. His Total Math was 84th percentile, Total Language was 96th percentile, and Science was 93 percentile. I plan for him to take the timed ITBS for 6th grade next year and compare.
My 9th grader has had chronic health issues, which have worsened over the past year. It interfered with his home schooling to the point that I decided to have him repeat 9th grade, mainly because there were days he didn’t have the strength to complete all of his work. However, I decided to have him take the timed 9th grade ITBS anyway, just to see where he needed help. In the past he has been a great test taker and usually scores in the 92+ percentile range. While some of his scores did drop, overall they were still quite good, even with this year’s difficulties. His reading total was 82nd percentile, his Math Total: 96th percentile, Core total: 90th percentile, Social Studies: 95th percentile,
Science: 98th percentile, and Composite: 92 percentile.
Steve
June 16th, 2012
6:07 am
As long as you have politicians involved in education they will continue to push their own agendas. As long as you have all the money involved in testing it will never be about knowledge assessment. As long as you have multiple guess questions it will be about test taking skills. Why is it that the lawyers are governed by lawyers? Why are doctors controlled by doctors. Why are kids manipulated by politicians? Because WE allow it. So, all these posts are just venting with no real changes that benefit those that are our future. Finally, who is really responsible for a child’s education? The teacher who has them for a maximum of 180 hours in a year or is it the parent? Lots of delusions of reality with little acceptance of responsibility by most.
sassyteacher
June 17th, 2012
7:32 am
More kids exceeded on the CRCT math and science this year because the test was easier. I administered the fifth grade test for the past 6 years, and the test last year required more higher level thinking and problem solving skills. This year, the test questions, at least for math and science, were much lower level, computational, memorize and spit back information types of questions.
I agree with using only the Iowa test to gauge students’ overall knowledge base. National normed tests are the tests used in qualifying students for gifted programs across Georgia, not standards based tests, like the CRCT. There is a reason for that. The CRCT is a joke. However, if we used Iowa test results to provide a snapshot of the academic standing of our students in Georgia, we would be sick to our stomachs with the results. The truth would be too painful.
The real academic problems in Georgia are due to lack of parenting at home and fear of actually holding parents accountable for student behavior in classrooms. If someone with common sense would deal with discipline issues, lots would change, for the positive, in our public schools.
Good Mother
June 17th, 2012
9:13 am
Since we are going to a common curriculum across the country, we need to go to a COMMON TEST — such as the ITBS. The reason more kids are exceeding on the CRCT but scores in math and science are low — is a simple one — GA LOWERed Its score to pass.
GA education is across the state — horrible. There are some bright spots but most spots are dismal. We need fewer students in each class and a better class of teacher. The education major teachers coming out of most of our colleges are unprepared for high schools themselves. There are notable exceptions but two of the three teachers teaching my children can’t use common standard English and they were born and raised here in Georgia. It is a disgrace. My childen will attend private schools next year whilethe parasite that is APS will suck the tax blood out of me.
Vouchers — now.
Good Mother
June 17th, 2012
9:19 am
All these comments about CRCT and ITBS being different and can’t be compared is BALONEY.
These tests measurea great deal of reading comprehension. They are ridiculously easy.
The answers to all the reading questions are clearly in the tests. If a child can’t get them right it is because they clearly haven’t learned to read.
Reading is fundamental to ALL other learning. We need to stop having these ridiculous pieces of black history month where my children learned about — get this — WHITNEY HOUSTON — and learn reading instead. Whitney is a drug addict who wasted all her talent. She was rich and black — so what? Why are we wasting critical education time talking about a drug addict? Teaching tolerance and kindness and respect ala Dr. Martin Luther King is a good message but WHITNEY HOUSTON? APS has run foul and it stinks.
Get back to reading.
Period.
Steve
June 18th, 2012
4:01 pm
Maureen. Here is a little fuel for the fire. I retired from teaching science 3 years ago. So some of what I say may be dated. I found this site years ago and used it to evaluate students on the previous day’s material. We then went over the questions and why answer A was right or wrong, why B was right or wrongm etc. It saved me from writing questions. I approached my principal to ensure I would not get in trouble and she gave the green light to use it. The website is http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/released_tests/index.shtml
When the CRCT rolled around the students found maybe 10 questions that were extremely close or exactly worded. This led me to believe that the same company that writes the CRCT may write Virginia’s standardized tests. This site provides a large amount of questions. So, if Georgia is not wanting to release the CRCT tests for whatever reason a parent can go to this site and find a very similar test. Texas also releases their TAKS and New York releases their Regents tests as do many other states.
If Georgia were to have a valid assessment then they should follow the WASL test from Washington state. This test would give valid results as to student knowledge. The problem is that politicians and educators do not want anyone to know just how bad the educational system is in Georgia. In my old system, students that did not pass were offered summer school in lieu of retention. The summer school curriculum consisted of art, PE, movies, games, etc. Completion of summer school allowed a student to be placed in the next grade and further behind in their education. Until students are held accountable this never ending cycle will further spiral out of control and more kids will be deprived of their education.
Teacher
July 25th, 2012
3:52 pm
With the math scores so low at many schools, why is Dekalb piloting a new program in some schools called “Success for All” which is a program to increase READING scores? When are we going to introduce a math program/curriculum that will increase math scores? And where is the money coming from for resources when teachers are working with 6 furlough days included in the upcoming school year?? Maureen, please look into these questions and help us to understand!