Ga. Students Fare Better on Grad Tests: State Official Says Schools Have ‘Turned the Corner’

By Julie Hubbard, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

May 11–The increase in the number of high school students passing graduation tests in social studies, English and, especially, science show that Georgia schools have “turned the corner,” a state official said Wednesday.

Dana Tofig, state Department of Education spokesman, said 76 percent of juniors taking the exam for the first time this year passed the science portion, compared to 71 percent in 2005. He attributed the gain to the state’s increased focus to improve science scores.

“Science was an area we saw our students were lagging,” Tofig said. “For years in science we weren’t seeing any movement — we saw slight drops.”

This year’s scores showed a much brighter picture, he said.

Many of Georgia’s new industries rely on workers knowledgeable in science-related fields and the state wants students to be competitive, Tofig said.

The state’s new curriculum, the Georgia Performance Standards, required teachers to focus on key science concepts and make learning science more hands-on this school year, he said.

“Anything above a 3 percentage point change shows something is going on,” Tofig said. “Students are doing science, not viewing science.”

By law, students are required to take the graduation exams beginning their junior year and get five chances to pass all sections in order to graduate.

Test scores released Wednesday showed that:

— 98 percent of the state’s students passed English language arts;

— 95 percent passed math;

— and 89 percent passed the social studies sections.

The passing rate for English language arts increased 1 percentage point and the social studies passing rate increased 2 percentage points, while math remained the same.

School systems had not received individual system test data from the state as of Wednesday, but several school officials said Wednesday the state results appear positive. In 2004-05, 45 percent of Bibb’s juniors failed the science portion of the graduation tests.

Bruce Giroux, Bibb County schools’ director of assessment and accountability said he’s waiting to see if the local system reflects the state figures.

“For science to improve by that many points is a good sign,” Giroux said. “I know the school system is working with science teachers at each grade level.”

The new curriculum has “more meat and more actual involvement” and teachers have better science teaching materials, Giroux said.

Peach County High is focusing on improving students’ math and science skills earlier in the school year, and plans to continue next year, said Peach deputy superintendent Doris Wilkinson.

Buster Evans, superintendent of Bleckley County Schools, said their preliminary results showed more Bleckley County High students passed the science portion of the graduation exams.

“Clearly, we’re doing better,” he said. “I think it’s due to years of work and ensuring we teach science across all grade levels.”

Houston County schools testing director, Greg Gentry was not available Wednesday for comment.

Although 76 percent of regular program students in Georgia passed the science portion, Tofig said there’s room for improvement.

The state needs to improve the number of black and Hispanic students’ passing rates in science, Tofig said. Only 46 percent of those subgroups passed the science portion this year, according to test data.

At one time the state discussed eliminating the Georgia High School Graduation Tests because students are also given End of Course Tests in some of the same subject areas.

But Eloise Barron, the state’s director of curriculum and instructional services, said the state intends to keep both state test assessments as an indicator of how students are performing.

“With No Child Left Behind, that we don’t want to change,” Barron said.

The new Georgia Performance Standards curriculum in high school English language arts and high school science was phased in for the first time this school year, with more subjects to be added each year until the new curriculum is fully implemented by 2009. Early test indicators showed science test scores would be higher than last year’s, said Barron, who wrote the new curriculum.

“We’re thinking we had a much better science curriculum in place than we did before,” Barron said. The tests this year were aligned with the new standards, she said.

The GDOE also spent $2 million to hire 16 master science teachers who worked with 30 local school systems on implementing the new science curriculum, Tofig said.

“These are some of the best science teachers in the state, in the classroom with teachers,” he said.

High school students also could use a new online site that allowed them to practice sample high school graduation exam questions, which may have helped with gains in science, social studies and English language arts, Tofig said.

Reporter Jake Jacobs contributed to this report.

To contact Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331 or e-mail jhubbard@macontel.com [mailto:jhubbard@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

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