VALDOSTA — The Georgia Department of Education released system results and school results from the first administration of Georgia’s new comprehensive testing program, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System. The Georgia Milestones Assessment System (Georgia Milestones) is composed of two separate programs: the End of Grade (EOG) assessment for students in grades 3 through 8 and the End of Course (EOC) assessment for students taking any one of the eight high school End-of-Course courses.

The results from the Georgia Milestones will be used to communicate student achievement, to determine grade promotion (grades 3, 5, and 8), to determine the overall average in End-of-Course course, and to determine school and educator accountability. Unlike the previous testing programs, the Georgia Milestones requires students to answer multiple-choice and open-ended test items, and it incorporates increased writing at every grade level and in every course.

The Georgia Milestones assesses student learning using four performance achievement levels.

The purpose of the four performance achievement levels is to shift the focus from test scores to a progression of student learning. The four performance achievement levels are listed below:

 Beginning Learners are students who lack the knowledge and skills to be successful at the next grade level/course.
 Developing Learners are students who have some of the knowledge and skills to be successful at the next grade level/course.
 Proficient Learners are students who learned the required knowledge and skills to be successful at the next grade level/course.
 Distinguished Learners are students who have advanced knowledge and skills to be successful at the next grade level/course.

While the Georgia Milestones and the CRCT both assess a student’s understanding of the grade level content standards, the two sets of scores are not comparable. The Georgia Milestones and the CRCT are two different tests with two different achievement expectations. The CRCT established some of the lowest expectations for student proficiency in the nation. Because of the higher expectation established with the Georgia Milestones, it was expected that fewer students would score at the proficient or higher performance level.

“We have known for a long time Georgia students performed well on Georgia tests, but not as well on national tests. The Georgia Milestones sets a higher standard for our students, a standard that is comparable to other national measures of student achievement. As we did with feedback received from the CRCT, we will use the results to improve our academic programs for all of our students,” commented Wes Taylor, Superintendent of Schools.

A link to Lowndes County School System’s achievement on the Georgia Milestones is available on the school system’s website.

Lowndes County Schools Release