Student achievement in the Clarke County School District has improved over the past year, but still falls short of CCSD’s goals of having 90% of middle-schoolers ready for high school, and ensuring all high school students graduate and are college- and career-ready.
Only 23% of kindergarteners through eighth graders were reading at or above grade level in the fall of 2021, with 34% one level behind and 44% two or more levels behind, according to data from iReady tests. The most recent iReady tests showed 33% of students reading at or above grade level, 30% one level behind and 34% two or more levels behind.
More than 3,000 students improved their performance on iReady tests for both reading and math. “This is significant because we want to see our students moving across those range bands,” Jennifer Scott, executive director of leadership development for elementary schools, told the Board of Education at a Mar. 3 work session.
In math, 13% of elementary- and middle-school students were at grade level in the fall of 2021, with 42% one level behind and 45% two or more levels behind. Those figures improved to 26% on level, 41% one level behind and 34% two or more levels behind in the winter of 2022.
Board member Nicole Hull asked about learning loss during the pandemic. “We are happily surprised that our students are doing better than predicted,” Chief Academic Officer Brannon Gaskins said, adding that the district has seen less learning loss in elementary schools than middle and high schools.
“We’re in a crisis, and the pandemic made the crisis worse,” board member Greg Davis said. “We’re making progress, but we’ve got such a large percentage that are not.” Comparing the “emergency” to the invasion of Ukraine, Davis called for the district to “be on a war footing.”
Gaskins said that the district is advancing students who missed time during the pandemic instead of forcing them to repeat a grade, while providing “scaffolding,” or remedial instruction, as needed.
In eighth grade, the district starts to prepare students for high school. “Ninth grade can be that make-or-break year,” said Neil Croslin, executive director of leadership development for secondary schools. Hundreds of eighth graders are taking high-school-level physical science, algebra, foreign language and other courses, with almost all of them passing, he said. But failure has no impact—they can take the course again and be better prepared, he said.
Passing rates on the Milestones end-of-course standardized test have improved dramatically since the 2018-2019 school year, from 23% to 51% in algebra, 43% to 58% in American literature, 21% to 52% in biology and 17% to 55% in U.S. history. Both high schools improved equally, Croslin said.
About 72% of seniors are currently on track to graduate, but Gaskins said he expects that figure to improve by about 8–12%, meeting or exceeding last year’s 79% graduation rate.
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