The Georgia Department of Education recently released the 2024 Georgia Milestones Assessment System scores, and City Schools of Decatur saw some improvement among Black student performance.
“Overall, City Schools of Decatur (CSD) made significant progress and outpaced the state in most grades for these subjects,” a press release from the school district says.
The Decatur School Board took a deeper dive into the district’s results and other spring assessment data during its first retreat of the school year on Aug. 20. The retreat was held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakhurst Recreation Center. School board retreats are open to the public. There is usually not a time for public comment at retreats.
Other items on the agenda include ethics, charter system training, a discussion about the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, and a strategic plan quarterly update. To view the agenda, click here.
CSD ranked first in English Language Arts in fourth through eighth grades in the metro area and in the top five in the state for all grade levels. The district also ranked in the top five for American Literature and Biology.
“Significant increases in performances were observed for our Black subgroup in grades 3, 5, 6, and 7 in ELA, with a remarkable 21 percentage point increase of students scoring proficient and distinguished in grade 5 from 2023 to 2024,” the press release states. “Similar progress was also evident for our Black subgroup’s Social Studies and Science performance, with an average gain of 7 percentage points in grades 5 and 8.”
There were also some decreases in scores for Black students on end-of-course assessments in Biology, American literature, and U.S. history.
“We are pleased to announce that the students of the City Schools of Decatur demonstrated significant progress overall, surpassing the state average in most grades and also subjects. Notably, there were substantial gains among Black students, particularly in ELA for grades three, five, six and seven; and social studies and science for grades five and eight,” Superintendent Dr. Gyimah Whitaker said at the Aug. 13 school board meeting.
CSD also launched a new data system on its website highlighting Milestones data and data from the College and Career Readiness Index assessment. To view the dashboard, click here.
The Georgia Milestones Assessment System is a comprehensive summative assessment program that represents a single assessment system across elementary, middle and high schools across the state. The assessments are made up of end-of-grade measures in English language arts and math in third through eighth grades, end-of-grade measures in science in fifth and eighth grade, end-of-grade measures in social studies in eighth grade, and end-of-course measures for some high school courses, according to the DOE website.
“The system is designed to send consistent signals about students’ preparedness for the next level, be it the next grade, course, or endeavor, such as entering college or beginning a career after leaving the K-12 educational system,” the Georgia DOE website states. “Georgia Milestones measures how well students have learned the knowledge and skills outlined in the state-adopted content standards in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.”
This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.
