East Cobb schools show gains in 2024 Milestones tests

Mountain View Elementary School
Mountain View Elementary School students turned in solid Milestones scores in 2023-24.

With dozens of data points, the Georgia Milestones testing results for the 2023-24 academic year present a variety of perspectives on how students at all grade levels performed.

The Georgia Department of Education on Thursday released the comprehensive assessments, which didn’t differ all that much from last year for the 36 public schools in East Cobb.

Students at schools with a pattern of high performance results continued to test well in the End of Grade (elementary and middle) and End of Course (high school) metrics.

Others that have had struggling figures over the years also continued to lag, although there was some progress in spots.

A total of 13 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.

(You can read through all the figures at the state education Milestones dashboard).

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.

The Georgia DOE said in a release that math scores will be released in the fall, after new math standards were implemented during the 2023-24 school year.

Across the state, ELA, reading and science scores were up modestly, according to a release. More:

“The percentage of students achieving the Proficient Learner level or above increased or held steady on 10 of 13 End of Grade (EOG) and End of Course (EOC) assessments.”

Those are among metrics that we’re highlighting in the tables below from East Cobb schools. Another key indicator that’s getting extra emphasis since COVID-19 are third-grade reading scores.

The Cobb County School District said in a release Thursday that 78.2 percent of students tested at all grade levelsĀ  and across all subjects surpassed their peers in other metro Atlanta school districts.

The district said reading levels “increased substantially” in third, fifth, sixth and eighth grades, while English Language Arts grades were also up modestly from 2023.

Cobb high school students outperformed the state average in U.S. History testing by 17 percent, and in biology by 13.9 percent.

What follows is a sampling of only a few metrics lines that comprise Milestones. Another link to the full dashboard can be found here, and where you can download spreadsheets and other data by school, school district and the state.

3rd Grade Reading

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8th grade English Language Arts

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High School American Lit & Comp

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High School Biology

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High School U.S. History

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