Pupils finish CRCT summer classes

Remediation classes for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests came to a close this week in Columbia County for more than 700 elementary- and middle-school pupils who took retests in reading and math Thursday and Friday.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Samaritan Simmons teaches a math class for eighth-graders who need to pass the CRCT math test. The summer session was held at Evans High School.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

An eighth-grader works in an Evans High School summer math class. Classes ended this week for county middle-schoolers.

School officials said it is too soon to tell how the test results will affect the system's ability to meet federal standards. Lisa Soloff, the school system's Title I director, declined to speculate until the results have been tabulated.

Still, she said, "We're feeling much better" since the federal government lowered the percentage of a school's third- through eighth-graders who have to pass the math CRCT to meet federal progress standards. The number fell to 59.5 percent from 66.7 percent.

In a June 8 letter to The Augusta Chronicle , state Superintendent Kathy Cox wrote that the new target still was an increase from a year ago, when 58.3 percent of third- through eighth-graders had to pass the math test. The change had been under discussion for two years in anticipation of the more rigorous Georgia Performance Standards, she wrote.

Because all of the county's schools made adequate yearly progress a year ago, Dr. Soloff said, the percentage of pupils who had to pass the math CRCT to meet the federal mark this year initially was 8 percent higher than last year. She said the change still put the figure 3.5 percent higher than it was a year ago.

Third-graders must pass the reading CRCT for promotion. Fifth- through eighth-graders must pass the reading and math CRCT to advance to the next grade.

This year, 467, or 27 percent, of Columbia County's eighth-graders failed the math test, which was administered under the more rigorous curriculum for the first time. Last year, 197 eighth-graders failed the math test.

These results sent a higher number of pupils to remediation classes this summer.

School officials said the summer session ran smoothly overall, but they had to make some adjustments because of the increased enrollment.

The system added 12 teachers -- five for elementary school and seven for middle school -- to its summer staff.

The transportation department doubled the number of buses for the summer program from four to eight.

Chris Segraves, the summer school principal, said the middle school CRCT classes were separated from the regular high school summer classes, which will continue at Evans High School through July 14. The elementary CRCT classes were held at Lewiston and Cedar Ridge elementary schools.

As for the enrollment in the high school remediation and enrichment classes, Mr. Segraves said, "Our numbers are very consistent with what they've been in the last several years."

In Richmond County, the math CRCT is scheduled for Tuesday and the reading CRCT is set for Wednesday, with makeup tests Thursday. Makeup tests in Columbia County will be given Monday for reading and Tuesday for math.

Reach Betsy Gilliland at (706) 868-1222, ext. 113, or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.