Wednesday, September 11, 2002
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Wednesday, September 11, 2002 |
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Fayette students make gains on CRCT
According to the 2002 Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) results just released by the Georgia Department of Education, Fayette students made great gains in the "exceeds standards" category in most of the subject areas tested. In the spring of 2002, Georgia students in grades one through eight took the CRCT in the content areas of reading, English/language arts and mathematics. Students in grades three through eight also took the science and social studies content area tests. However, only the results for grades four, six and eight in the areas of reading, English/language arts and mathematics have been released at this time. The remaining scores are scheduled for release later this month. The CRCT tests students on their knowledge of Georgia's Quality Core Curriculum (QCC). Student scores are placed in one of three categories for each content test area: does not meet standard, meets standard and exceeds standard. These standards represent what Georgia educators expect students to know and be able to do at the end of the school year with respect to the QCC. Compared to last year's results, Fayette's scores show a decrease in the "does not meet standard" category (except in eighth grade reading which increased from 5 to 9 percent while still remaining dramatically below the state's 20 percent average). Almost all subject areas across grade levels four, six and eight saw a substantial percentage of students move from the "meets" to "exceeds" standard. Sixth grade reading and English/language arts saw the largest increase with students scoring 66 and 40 percent, respectively, in the "exceeds" category resulting in a 10 percent gain in each area. Fourth grade English/language arts had a one-percent drop in the "exceeds" standard (26 percent) from last year while gaining two percentage points in the "meets" standard (63 percent). The "exceeds" standard in eighth grade reading dropped 11 percent (60 percent) while gaining seven percentage points in the "meets" category (30 percent). However, both grades scored well above the state's "exceeds" percentages in their respective areas with Georgia's fourth grade students earning a score of 15 percent in English/language arts compared to Fayette's 26 percent and the state's eighth grade students scoring 43 percent in reading in comparison to the county's 60 percent. In math, all grade levels in Fayette experienced a shift in students moving from the "does not meet" and "meets" standard to the "exceeds" category. Both fourth and sixth grade students gained six percentage points in the "exceeds" standard for respective scores of 34 and 45 percent while eighth graders had an increase of seven percent for an overall score of 33 percent. "Our scores show that Fayette's teachers are following the state's curriculum closely," said Stuart Bennett, assistant superintendent of education. "While we are pleased with the increase in our scores, we are going to be working closely with the two grade level areas that saw a decrease in order to help them improve. We will also continue to seek ways to help all of our students increase their performance levels."
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