East Cobb schools lead the way in 2019 Milestones results

The Top 10 highest-performing schools in the Cobb County School District on the 2019 Georgia Milestones tests all come from East Cobb.

That’s the word from the district, which on Friday released Milestones figures for the previous 2018-19 academic year.

The assessment scores, which measure learning proficiency in grades 3-12, are collected by the Georgia Department of Education and distributed by public school districts in late July.

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

The evaluations are based on End of Grade (EOG) tests at the elementary and middle school levels, and End of Course (EOC) tests at the high school level.

In Cobb, 84 percent of the 82,600 students who took a total of 195,655 Milestone tests achieved Level 2 or higher. That reflected a range of between 7.4 and 9.4 percentage points higher than other Georgia students in all subject areas.

For the second year in a row, Timber Ridge Elementary School in East Cobb led the district, with 98.8 percent of students taking the Milestones achieving Level 2 proficiency or higher.

The others in the Top 10 are also from East Cobb:

• Murdock ES (98.3 percent);
• Dodgen MS (98.0 percent);
• Mountain View ES (97.6 percent);
• Dickerson MS (97.4 percent);
• Walton HS (97.2 percent);
• Mt. Bethel ES (97.0 percent);
• Tritt ES (97.0 percent);
• Hightower Trail (96.8 percent);
• Lassiter HS (96.8 percent).

Students in grades 3-8 are given an End of Grade test in English Language Arts and math. Student in grades 5-8 are also tested for science and social students. The high school End of Course tests cover eight subjects in English Language arts, math, science, and social studies.

(Here’s more of a breakdown on the Milestones assessment from the Georgia DOE.)

Across Georgia, 76 percent of students were rated at Level 2 or higher on the Milestones. The state said that scores were steady or increased in 25 of the 26 assessments.

The scores of Cobb students rose in all four subject areas from 2018, and the district said 90 percent of students improved their Milestones scores from three years ago.

The district also tracks school-wide improvement, and East Cobb’s Daniell Middle School had one of the biggest boosts from 2018. A total of 84.7 percent of its students scored at Level 2 or higher, an increase of 7.3 percent.

In 3-year trend improvements, schools in the South Cobb area enjoyed double-digit improvements in Level 2 or higher percentage points since 2016.

In a statement issued by the Cobb district, Murdock principal Lynn Hamblett credited three reasons for student results at her school: engaged parents, students prepared to learn and a dedicated staff.

“It is this winning combination and partnership that allows our students to perform at their highest levels,” she said.

For more information visit the Cobb school district’s Georgia Milestones resource page.

For detailed spreadsheets of grade- and school-level results and more, visit the Georgia DOE’s 2019 Milestone’s page.

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