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Press Release – June 19, 2012
Coweta students outperform state, improve several areas on Criterion Reference Competency Test
(See the chart accompanying this story for Coweta County’s overall 2012 CRCT scores, with comparisons to the county’s 2011 performance and the state of Georgia’s overall 2012 performance).
Results for Coweta County Schools on the Georgia Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT) for grades 3 through 8 show that Coweta County students improved performance in several grades and subjects in the last year, and consistently outperformed students throughout the state of Georgia, with higher percentages of students Coweta students Meeting or Exceeding state standards in most grades and subject areas.
The CRCT exam test students’ mastery of the state of Georgia’s basic curriculum in the areas of reading, language arts, math, science and social studies in grades 3 through 8. In all, the 2012 CRCT covered 30 grades and subject areas.
Overall 2012 scores released by the Georgia Department of Education show Coweta County students Meeting or Exceeding the standards at a higher rate than the state of Georgia as a whole in 27 of the 30 areas covered by the test. Coweta schools as a whole were even with state CRCT test performance in two areas, and were under the state average by 1 point in one area (5th grade math).
“I very encouraged by the results,” said Coweta County Superintendent Steve Barker. “Our students continue to perform well in comparison to students across the state and in surrounding districts.”
For example, Coweta schools outperformed Georgia by 5 percent in 2nd grade math (with 85 percent meeting or exceeding standards compared to 80 percent in Georgia as a whole) and 8 percent in 8th grade math (with 85 percent meeting or exceeding standards compared to 77 percent in Georgia as a whole).
Coweta students also did exceptionally well in their performance on CRCT science exams and social studies exams compared to their state counterparts, with Coweta students outperforming the state in all grades 3 through 8, and often exceeding state passage rates by 5 percentage points or more.
Coweta’s overall CRCT test performance improved by 3 points on the 4th grade science test (to 88 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards) and 6 points on the 8th grade science test (to 83 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards). Coweta’s performance also improved by 4 points on the 8th grade science test (to 83 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards).
The CRCT exam also gauges whether students meet or exceed the standards being tested, based on grade level expectations. A higher percentage of Coweta students exceeded expectations during the 2012 administration of the CRCT exams, with increases in the percentages of students exceeding standards in 20 of the 30 areas tested.
In 3rd through 8th grade science exams, for example, an average of about 4 percent more students scored in the “exceeds expectations” category in 2012 than in 2011. While 90 percent of Coweta 4th graders met science standards overall in 2012, 50 percent of 4th graders actually exceeded the standards on the exam.
“That more students are moving into performance that exceeds standards reflects a lot of hard work on the part of both students and teachers,” said Barker.
The Criterion Reference Competency Test is given to Georgia students in the spring of each school year. The CRCT is designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in state curriculum.
The assessments yield information on academic achievement at the student, class, school, system, and state levels. This information is used to diagnose individual student strengths and weaknesses as related to instruction and to gauge the quality of education throughout Georgia.
Barker said that Coweta teachers have already begun preparing for next year’s roll-out of the state of Georgia’s new curriculum and new state curriculum assessments.
