Schools

Cobb Students Show Modest CRCT Gains

Third- through eighth-graders had higher scores over 2012 in most subject areas.

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Students in the Cobb County School District tested slightly higher in the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test than their counterparts last year, according to figures released Tuesday by the Georgia Department of Education. 

Cobb students averaged higher percentages of those meeting or exceeding standards in 21 of 30 subject areas, and had higher mean (or average) scale scores in 20 areas from last year.

The CRCT results have been used by the state to determine how schools were meeting federal No Child Left Behind goals. Last year Georgia received a waiver to form an alternate scheme that includes CRCT and other components.

Students across the state were tested this spring in grades three through eight in five CRCT subject areas: reading, English/language arts, mathematics, science and social science.

In Cobb, roughly 8,000 students were tested in each of the 30 subject areas. 

The test results included five indicators per grade per subject: mean scale score, percentage of students not meeting standards (with a scoring average of 650‐799), percentage meeting standards (800‐849), percentage exceeding standards (850 and above) and percentage meeting or exceeding standards. 

The biggest gains in Cobb in mean scale score and percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards were as follows, with 2012 figures in parenthesis: 

  • 3rd grade social science: 837 (831) and 87 (83);
  • 6th grade mathematics: 842 (833) and 89 (86);
  • 6th grade social science: 853 (848) and 83 (80);
  • 7th grade social science: 861 (854) and 88 (83);
  • 8th grade mathematics: 844 (838) and 88 (83).
The biggest decline in mean scale score was 6th grade English/Language Arts, to 842 from 848 last year. But the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards was steady at 94 percent. 

In general, Cobb students scored better than the statewide average across most indicators. School-by-school results will be released next month.

The following numbers are the percentage of Cobb students meeting or exceeding standards in each subject area, by grade, with 2012 numbers in parenthesis: 

  • 3rd Grade: Reading 94 (93); English/LA 90 (92); Math 82 (84); Science 83 (81); Social Science 87 (83).
  • 4th Grade: Reading 94 (94); English/LA 92 (94); Math 88 (85); Science 87 (85); Social Science (85 (82).
  • 5th Grade: Reading 95 (94); English/LA 95 (96); Math 92 (91); Science 83 (82); Social Science 83 (81).
  • 6th Grade: Reading 97 (98); English/LA 94 (94); Math 89 (86); Science 82 (80); Social Science 83 (80).
  • 7th Grade: Reading 96 (95); English/LA 94 (94); Math 92 (93); Science 89 (93); Social Science 88 (83).
  • 8th Grade: Reading 97 (98); English/LA 96 (97); Math 88 (83); Science 80 (79); Social Science 82 (83).

The Georgia Department of Education website has several databases of CRCT data with statewide scores and results for each school district.

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