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NAEP Scores Show Historic Gains Georgia’s 4th graders are scoring at the national level in reading, according to results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Georgia students scored at all-time highs on the NAEP in math and reading. The biggest gains, however, were seen in reading, providing further evidence that Georgia's new curriculum -- the Georgia Performance Standards -- is having a big impact. Georgia students in grades 4 and 8 took the NAEP exams in Reading and Mathematics last school year. The students who were tested had been taught using the state's new Reading/English Language Arts curriculum for two years. However, they had not been taught the new math curriculum, which was implemented in grades 4 and 8 this school year. The NAEP is given to a representative sample of students in every state. Scores are broken into four categories -- below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. Reading Gains In Reading, 66 percent of Georgia’s 4th graders scored at or above the basic level in reading, one point higher than the nation. Georgia saw an eight-point increase in the percentage of students scoring at or above the national level. Georgia's 8th graders improved on the reading test, as well. The percentage of students scoring at or above basic increased to 70 percent, just two points off the national average. Modest Gains in Math The state's 4th and 8th graders showed modest improvements in mathematics, although they still trail the nation. "Once the math standards take hold in 4th and 8th grade, I know we'll see improvements like we saw in reading this year," Superintendent Cox said. In 4th grade, 79 percent of the students tested scored at or above basic. That's an increase of three points from 2005 and is just two points behind the nation. In 8th grade, 64 percent of the students tested scored at or above basic, an increase of two points. However, that score was still six points below the national average. At or Above the Nation Georgia's minority students continued to score the same or better than minority students across the nation. In 4th grade reading, for instance, Georgia's African-American students had a scale score of 205, two points higher than the national African-American average. Hispanic students scored a 212, seven points higher than the national Hispanic average. (NAEP is scored on a scale of 0-500). In 4th grade mathematics, African-Americans in Georgia scored the same as their peers across the nation, with a scale score of 222. Hispanic students scored a 229 in Georgia, two points higher than the nation. TEST PARTICIPATION 4th Grade
8th Grade
Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the NAEP 2007 mathematics and reading assessments receives one-page snapshot reports that present key findings and trends in a condensed format. The reports in this series present bulleted text describing overall student results, bar charts showing NAEP achievement levels for each year in which the state participated, and tables displaying results by gender, race/ethnicity, and eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch. In addition, bulleted text describes the trends in average scale score gaps for gender, race/ethnicity, eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch, and the 25th compared to the 75th percentile score. Trends in scale scores at selected percentiles are also displayed. Here are the reports for Georgia: Mathematics 4 and 8 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2007/2007495GA4.pdf Reading 4 and 8 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2007/2007497GA4.pdf Georgia Educator Named National High School Principal of the Year Molly P. Howard, principal of Jefferson County High School, has been named National High School Principal of the Year. ABOUT MOLLY HOWARD (from the NASSP website) Bridging a serious achievement gap can be a daunting challenge, but it's one that Molly Howard tackled head on with the help of the entire school community. When she took the helm of Jefferson County High School, her first order of business was to create a school improvement team that developed a mission and vision for the school and set several top priorities: increase graduation rates, create a personalized caring school community, and increase student achievement on state tests. To address those priorities, Howard worked with the school community to build a culture of collaboration and establish a true learning community. An annual summer workshop gives teachers a week of uninterrupted time to develop and refine units of study that reflect best practices, differentiation, essential learnings, and standards. One decision the staff made, knowing that setting high expectations is a key to student achievement, was to eliminate all lower-level courses. All students take college preparatory-level English, as well as math, science, and social studies. With extended learning time and a mastery approach, every student also has the opportunity to master essential Algebra I skills. Students who have not mastered standards are offered extra help through an after-school tutoring program and in-class retests. To keep students on track, each certified adult in the school serves as an advisor to a group of 12-15 students and follows the students throughout their entire high school career. According to Howard, the advisory program has helped create a new culture within the school. Now the school boasts improved student achievement and a 75% graduation rate, which is above the state and national rates. Patsy H. Dean, principal of Upson-Lee Middle School, is one of three finalists for the National Middle Level Principal of the Year. ABOUT PATSY DEAN (from the NASSP website) "To fully implement the middle school concept, there must be a balance among academic excellence, social equity, and developmental responsiveness," according to Patsy Dean, who took a struggling middle school with no direction and low morale and, with a vision and support from staff, students, and the community, turned it into a 2005 Georgia Lighthouse School to Watch. Learning-focused teacher teams, steering committees, instructional coaches, and administrators provide the leadership necessary to create a school community focused on meeting student needs and promoting academic achievement. All core content classes are heterogeneously grouped and the special needs program is based on an inclusion model using co-teaching as its foundation. Teachers in each content area have collaborated to develop a set of essential learnings, common assessments, instructional plans and tools, and performance-based activities. An optional week-long summer class, five professional learning days per year, and at least two hours of collaborative planning weekly for each grade level content area promote collaborative planning for effective instruction. The large school is divided into small learning communities where teams focus on getting to know individual students and their families and helping students with their academic, emotional, and behavioral needs. An advisor/advisee program pairs each student with an adult advocate and a three-year character education program emphasizes positive personal development. These school improvement initiatives and the commitment of all stakeholders have promoted higher student achievement and an improved overall learning climate. Georgia's New Curriculum: No. 5 in the Nation! The state's new curriculum, the Georgia Performance Standards, is the fifth-best state curriculum in the nation according to a report released this week. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute released its report on all state curricula entitled "The State of State Standards". The report gave Georgia's curriculum an overall grade of B+, up from a C- in 2000, the last time a review was done. Georgia's overall ranking jumped 16 points from 2000. HIGH MARKS IN ALL AREAS Over the past couple of years, the Institute has been reviewing different sections of state curricula. The grades were combined to come up with an overall grade of B+ for Georgia. The report reviewed standards in five core areas -- English, U.S. History, Geography/World History, Math and Science.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT The authors had plenty of praise for Georgia's Curriculum.
The Institute's review of the curriculum has been ongoing over the past few years and does not include the state's revised standards in U.S. History and some revisions to the math standards. |
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