New standards do not appear to have deterred Forsyth County schools from again topping the state in Criterion-Referenced Competency Test results. According to grade-level results released this week by the state Department of Education, at least 90 percent of all students in the county system met or exceeded state standards in the CRCT. The test, which was administered in April, measures third-through eighth-graders statewide in math, science, English/language arts, reading and social studies. “Our teachers and students are to be congratulated on their success in meeting and exceeding standards,” said Superintendent Buster Evans. “Our averages have well surpassed those of the state, and we look forward to the individual school results being released in July.” When those results come in, Director of Assessment Beth Kieffer said schools will “look at [them], individual teachers will look at his or her results and everybody will compare their results.”“We started data teams over the past two years here in Forsyth and they can actually take that and they can drill down in the score results ... and see where students did well and didn’t do well,” she said. Looking at the broad system results, the district’s chief accountability officer noted all grades stayed the same or increased over last year’s results in social studies and reading. Of similarly-sized systems, Cindy Salloum said Forsyth is “the top one in grades 3, 5, 6 and 7 in all subjects — we’re in the top percent in meets and exceeds.” According to Salloum, the local district was second only to Fayette County in fourth grade social studies and eighth grade reading. Within the system, the largest drop over last year was in third grade math, which went from 94.5 to 90.8 percent. Karl Mercer, assessment coordinator for the system, said such dips are normal.“When you’re at the top, when your scores are that high, they’re going to fluctuate a little bit,” he said. CRCT results are being measured differently under the new College and Career Ready Performance Index, or CCRPI standards. This is only the second year results are being viewed using the new guidelines and Kieffer said they likely will only become more difficult.“The curriculum has changed and I think it’s kudos to our teachers that they’ve actually kept up with the shift,” she said.“The assessments will definitely catch up to the curriculum change and be much more difficult by 2014-15, so the fact that they’re able to keep their head above water right now and stay in the 90 percent and above is good.”
New standards do not appear to have deterred Forsyth County schools from again topping the state in Criterion-Referenced Competency Test results. According to grade-level results released this week by the state Department of Education, at least 90 percent of all students in the county system met or exceeded state standards in the CRCT. The test, which was administered in April, measures third-through eighth-graders statewide in math, science, English/language arts, reading and social studies. “Our teachers and students are to be congratulated on their success in meeting and exceeding standards,” said Superintendent Buster Evans. “Our averages have well surpassed those of the state, and we look forward to the individual school results being released in July.” When those results come in, Director of Assessment Beth Kieffer said schools will “look at [them], individual teachers will look at his or her results and everybody will compare their results.”“We started data teams over the past two years here in Forsyth and they can actually take that and they can drill down in the score results ... and see where students did well and didn’t do well,” she said. Looking at the broad system results, the district’s chief accountability officer noted all grades stayed the same or increased over last year’s results in social studies and reading. Of similarly-sized systems, Cindy Salloum said Forsyth is “the top one in grades 3, 5, 6 and 7 in all subjects — we’re in the top percent in meets and exceeds.” According to Salloum, the local district was second only to Fayette County in fourth grade social studies and eighth grade reading. Within the system, the largest drop over last year was in third grade math, which went from 94.5 to 90.8 percent. Karl Mercer, assessment coordinator for the system, said such dips are normal.“When you’re at the top, when your scores are that high, they’re going to fluctuate a little bit,” he said. CRCT results are being measured differently under the new College and Career Ready Performance Index, or CCRPI standards. This is only the second year results are being viewed using the new guidelines and Kieffer said they likely will only become more difficult.“The curriculum has changed and I think it’s kudos to our teachers that they’ve actually kept up with the shift,” she said.“The assessments will definitely catch up to the curriculum change and be much more difficult by 2014-15, so the fact that they’re able to keep their head above water right now and stay in the 90 percent and above is good.”