East Cobb schools hold steady in 2023 Milestones test scores

Mt. Bethel ES, Cobb CCRPI scores — *95 percent of Mt. Bethel ES third-graders were reading above grade levels in the 2022-23 academic year.*

For the second year in a row, students at some East Cobb schools turned in some of the best results in the Georgia Milestones testing for the 2022-23 school year.

And students at other schools in East Cobb continued to struggle, reflecting slightly changed results overall from 2022, according to Georgia Department of Education data released Friday.

Georgia Milestones test students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and those areas plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.

Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.

Educators across the state and in Cobb County have been emphasizing ways to address learning loss due to COVID-19 disruptions, especially in third-grade reading, a key benchmark of early literacy.

Georgia has adopted new standards for teaching English after only a third of third-graders were regarded as proficient or better in Milestones ELA results in 2022.

Across the state, ELA Milestones scores among third-graders in 2023 rose three percentage points and the percentage of third-graders reading at or above grade-level was up slightly, from 64 to 66 percent.

In ELA, 78.9 percent of Cobb students were rated as developing learners or above, and 78.7 percent met the same threshold in all subjects.

The Cobb County School District said in a release Friday that those scores were among those that led metro Atlanta.

Across the board, 73.8 percent of Cobb students were reading at or above grade level, trailing only Fulton County.

In several East Cobb schools, third-grade reading achievements were high, with Timber Ridge (96.7 percent), Mt. Bethel (95), Tritt (94.9), Shallowford Falls (93.1), Murdock (92.2), Mountain View (91.6) and Sope Creek (90.1) leading the way with students at or above grade-level.

In the ELA results, 50.7 percent of Tritt third-graders (138 students testing) were distinguished learners.

Those figures were similar to 2022 Milestones scores at those schools.

Conversely, students at other East Cobb elementary schools struggled, with those scores under 70 percent among third-graders at the following schools: Keheley (67.9), Powers Ferry (67.2), Bells Ferry (62.7) and Brumby (55.1).

More than half of the 158 third-grade students who tested at Brumby (51.3) were considered only beginning learners in ELA.

Four East Cobb elementary schools were among the Top 10 in Georgia fifth-graders reading at or above grade level: Timber Ridge (98.8 percent), Mt. Bethel (97,4) and Rocky Mount and Sope Creek (94.6).

Several East Cobb middle schools turned in high marks for percentage of proficient learners.

In ELA, those schools were Dickerson (82.6), Dodgen (76.5), Hightower Trail (76.0), Mabry (74,4) and Simpson (71.2). In eighth-grade math, Dickerson (87.8), Dodgen (80.7) and Hightower Trail (80.2) also led Cobb schools.

At the high school level, full-year End of Course test results were similar to 2022. The Cobb school district percentage of students at or above grade-level in reading was 77.3.

Grade-level or above reading status was tops at Lassiter (96.1), Pope (94.4), Walton (92.6), followed by Kell (81.9), Sprayberry (75.6) and Wheeler (73.8).

Walton students had the highest full-year EOC percentages of proficiency learners or above in Cobb in all four testing areas: American Literature (84,3), Algebra I (69.8), Biology (89.2) and U.S. History (83.2).

Lassiter and Pope students weren’t far behind in those categories, while Wheeler students had the lowest proficiency or above learners across the board, including 36.1 percent in Algebra I and 47.7 percent in U.S. History.

Here’s more of a breakdown on the Milestones assessments from the Georgia DOE, including state, school system and school level scores from both last winter semester and the past spring semester.

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