Friday, September 21, 2001
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Friday, September 21, 2001 |
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Students beat the state average in CRCT scores Coweta students beat the state average in the latest round of test scores released by the school system. School systems in Georgia, including Coweta County, administered the first Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in spring 2000. This testing is the result of the Georgia State Board of Education's adoption of the Quality Core Curriculum in 1997, and the result of education reform legislation adopted in recent years by the Georgia General Assembly. CRCT covers the content areas of reading, English/language arts, and mathematics in grades four, six and eight. Educators established cut scores of 300 and 350 for the CRCT. Scores below 300 indicate a level of performance below the standard. Scores from 300 to 349 indicate performance that meets the standard, and scores at 350 and above indicate performance that exceeds the standard. "Unlike the Stanford 9 and the ITBS [Iowa Test of Basic Skills], this is not a normed test," said John Dunn, director of middle and high school curriculum for the Coweta County School System. "This is a test to determine how well a student has learned a specific content area" set out in the QCC, he said. In other words, students are not scored in reference to other students' performance on the tests nationwide, but by their mastery of the subject matters set out in statewide curriculum. System-wide results for the test (taken in spring 2001) show consistently that a higher percentage of students in the Coweta County School System score in the "exceeds expectations" level than do students statewide, while a consistently lower percentage of Coweta County students fall into the "does not meet expectations" category than do their counterparts statewide. The previous year (1999-2000) was the first year for the CRCT. Coweta County's statewide scores showed improvement in all categories from 2000 to 2001. A similar criterion reference test (the CBE, or Criterion Based Exam) was administered statewide several years ago. According to state requirements, students in grades one through eight will be administered the CRCT during spring 2002, expanding from three to eight tested grade levels. Dunn said that the test administered in those grades will be the same format as the tests administered in 2001, except that testing in the subject matters of science and social studies will be added in grades three through eight. The CRCT will take on an added significance in the coming years (within about three years), as it will become part of state requirements for promotion in grades three, five and eight. Student performance on the test, at least in part, will be used to determine promotion to the next grade for students in those three grades.
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