Gilmer County Schools had good news to share with the release of its Georgia Milestones results.
Georgia Milestones are designed to provide information about how well students are mastering state-adopted content standards in the content areas of English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, science and social studies.
The Milestones consist of end of grade (EOG) measures in ELA and math for grades three through eight, in science in grades five through eight and in eighth-grade social studies.
End of course (EOC) measures are for the specified high school courses of American Literature and Composition, algebra I, biology and U.S. history at the end of the course, regardless of the grade level.
The four achievement tiers include level one beginning learners, level two developing learners, level three proficient learners and level four distinguished learners.
Gilmer’s data was presented by Title IX Coordinator Nicole Pike at last Monday’s board of education work session.
Gilmer Schools’ combined percentage of developing, proficient and distinguished learners for ELA in grades four through eight exceeds state averages. The only grade that does not top the state average is grade three, and it is a mere six tenths shy.
North Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency (NGRESA) is made of school districts from Cherokee, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens and Whitfield counties, and Gilmer ranks second or first in four grades. Top EOG for ELA include grade eight (86.2 percent), while grade five (80.4), grade six (72.5) and grade seven (73.4) are all second in the NGRESA.
Grade five EOG for science sits at 70.8 percent and ranks second. Grade eight’s science is 79.7 and is tops in NGRESA, while the eighth-grade social studies mark of 82.9 is second. All three figures are well above state averages.
“I would attribute it to our PLC (professional learning community) process entirely,” said Clear Creek Middle School principal Sarah West when asked about their improving marks. “I have rock-star teachers, and it’s really about getting into that PLC, and we dig in beyond the surface level and go deep into our data. It’s not just who passes or fails. We’re looking at item analysis, which standards are weak and what we need to work on.
“Then we’re cycling back through and building that back in. The teachers work extremely hard.”
Gilmer High ranks above the state’s EOC percentage in American Literature and Composition, biology and U.S. history. It achieved percentages of 75.5 in American Literature and Composition, 72.2 in biology and 79.2 in U.S. history, which are all No. 2 in the NGRESA.
Due to the implementation of new mathematics content standards and assessments, results are not expected to be available until the end of September.
“The math data is embargoed, but we do have it,” said superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley.
“And we’re pretty proud of that, too. We came out all right.”