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Third-, fifth- and eighth-grade students must pass the reading test to advance to the next grade, and fifth- and eighth-graders must also pass the math portion. However, students who fail are given opportunities for re-tests and remediation.
Statewide results showed that from over 120,000 students tested throughout the state in each grade, 90.6 percent of third-grade students met or exceeded reading standards, while 81 percent did so in math.
In fifth grade, 91.5 percent of students met or exceeded reading standards and 83.7 met or exceeded math standards.
Eighth grade students reportedly passed with 95.9 percent meeting or exceeding standards and 76.7 percent doing so in the math portion of the test.
In reviewing the scores, Cherokee County school district students all performed better on the reading portion of the test than the math, with Free Home and Ball Ground third-graders both earning a perfect score with 100 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards.
Hasty and Canton had the lowest percentage of third-grade students achieving the meets or exceeds designation in reading, with each reporting 89.7 and 86.1 percent pass rater respectively.
For third-grade math, Knox reported 98.2 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards. Holly Springs had the lowest percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards at 76.7.
Six district schools’ fifth grade reading scores showed over 99 percent met or exceeded standards, and they are: Indian Knoll, Sixes, Liberty, Little River, Knox and Macedonia. Canton had the lowest percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards at 83.7 percent.
Macedonia fifth-graders also fared the best for their grade level on the math portion of the test, with 98.8 percent meeting or exceeding state standards. Hasty saw the lowest percentage, with only 65.5 percent meeting or exceeding state standards.
All district middle schools saw over 97 percent of eighth grade students meeting or exceeding standards in reading, with Booth reporting 99.5 percent pass rate. Freedom performed the best on the math portion of the test, with 95.1 percent passing, while Creekland reported the lowest percentage of students meeting or exceeding math standards at 79.4 percent.
“The best news in the 2012 CRCT report is that more of our students are exceeding the standards,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge said in a release Thursday. “Teachers are doing a great job teaching the more rigorous Georgia Performance Standards and they are to be applauded for raising expectations for all students.”
For these three grade levels, Cherokee County School District students in 23 elementary schools and eight middle schools, including Chapman Intermediate, were tested in reading, English/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
Cherokee Charter Academy, a state-chartered school in Canton that is not governed by the local school district, tested its third through seventh grade students, as they did not have an eighth-grade class this year.
Students were tested in April and the scores released Thursday morning do not include the re-test scores, though when CCA initially released its scores in June, Principal Vanessa Suarez said the school’s scores include retakes, which effectively boost overall scores.
In its inaugural year, Cherokee Charter Academy tested 115 third grade students, with 95.7 percent meeting or exceeding standards in math and 85.2 percent in math.
For the school’s fifth-grade class, 97 students were tested in reading with 93.8 percent meeting or exceeding standards. In the math portion of the test, 96 students were tested and 81.3 percent met or exceeded standards.
In comparing the charter school to district schools with similar percentages of students receiving free and reduced lunch, CCA did not outperform those schools in math or reading in the third, fifth or eighth grades.
CCA has 16.48 percent of its students receiving these lunch benefits, with the district overall having 31 percent of its students in that category. Comparable schools are Macedonia Elementary School at 14.29 percent, Mountain Road Elementary School at 14.31 percent and Freedom Middle School at 19.49 percent.
The charter school outperformed these schools in only three subject areas in each grade level overall, and those were fourth grade science and social studies and seventh grade language arts.
I think your comparison of it to a few select schools based on a single factor...students receiving lunch benefits is not a good analysis. I think that since the Charter school is in its first year and students came from across all of Cherokee County, the best comparison would be the district average because it is a better baseline for an initial analysis.
If you compare Cherokee Charter to the Cherokee district Average, then they are pretty equal. I would give the Charter School at a slight advantage. The reason I say this is because you can compare the school and the district average in five grades (3rd - 7th...not 8th as you mentioned above)and in five content areas.
Through this type of comparison, you'll see that Cherokee Charter slightly out performed the District average in at least 3 out of 5 content areas in 4 out of the 5 grade levels that can be compared. Fourth grade outperformed in 4 of 5 content areas. Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh graders outperformed in 3 of 5 content areas.
Once again, I appreciate your story and the information. I think it demonstrates the hard work that our students, parents, and teachers are putting into the county's public education opportunities...Cherokee Charter included. As a Cherokee County resident and parent, I'm glad to see that.