The results are in, and once again, Fayette’s students have excelled at another standardized test.

Late Friday afternoon, the Georgia Department of Education released system-wide results for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.

The major blip in all the high test scores occurred in the sixth grade — the first year of middle school — where only 84.4 percent aced the math test, while 79.7 passed the science test. By eighth grade, the math and science numbers were up to 94.8 and 91.6 respectively.

“We’re real happy that we did so well, but we always analyze the results each year and see where we can do better,” said Superintendent of Education John DeCotis.

In first grade reading, 97 percent of Fayette’s first-graders passed or exceeded the standards in reading, which led the state for systems with more than 1,000 students taking the test. In English language arts, 91.2 passed or exceed the standards, while 92.9 passed or exceeded the standards.

In second grade, 95.6 of the students met or exceeded the reading standards, while 92.5 percent aced the English language arts and 94.3 exceed or met the standards in math.

Starting in third grade, students also have to take science and social studies tests. Of these students, 93.5 percent passed or exceeded the reading standards, while 93.9 passed the English language arts and 96.8 exceeded or passed the math standards.

The first score under 90 percent occurred with third grade science, where 87.7 percent passed or exceeded the standards, while 95.7 percent passed the social studies test.

In fourth grade, more than 91 percent passed or exceeded the standards in reading, English language arts, math and social studies, while 88.9 percent of the students met or surpassed the science standards.

In grades 5-8, more than 93 percent passed or exceeded standards in reading, English language arts and social studies.

DeCotis said that the efforts of his system’s teachers was the key in the students doing so well.

In a press release that accompanied the scores, Superintendent of Education Kathy Cox — a Peachtree City resident — pointed to the success of the new Georgia Performance Standards that were established in 2005.

“As the GPS is rolled out, we are really raising expectations in three ways,” said Superintendent Cox. “The curriculum itself is more rigorous, the tests require higher order thinking and the cut scores are, in nearly every case, higher.”

“We are asking a lot of our students and our teachers, but this year’s test results show us that they are rising to the challenge,” she said. “We’re still early in the process of implementing the new curriculum, and there are areas for improvement. But, the good news is that Georgia has momentum and we are not going back.”

The test was implemented in the spring of 2000, according o the department’s website, and is used to measure how well students acquire the basic skills and knowledge in the Georgia Performance Standards and the Quality Core Curriculum.

The test is also used to determine if students will advance to the next grade. Third grade students cannot advance to the fourth grade unless they pass the reading portion of the test, and fifth and eighth grade students will not matriculate unless the reading and math portions of the test are passed.

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