More than 1,500 fail test again

The initial test results turned out to be correct. The Augusta-Richmond County students that preformed poorly on the CRCTs were poorly prepared. The retest confirmed it. Appealing the scores is tantamount to conceding an inability to teach these kids. While the system numbers may appear better after the appeal process, will the child be better informed and better prepared to be advanced? Will it help our community in the long run to appeal these test results? Let's raise the educational standards instead and have prepared students take the tests.

"The benefit of holding a pupil back for weakness in one subject area must be weighed against the harm of having the child repeat classes already passed, he said."..So what is the point of all of this??? If the parents can appeal and the unprepared student move up to the next grade anyway regardless of failing the test... why bother with the test at all?? ""Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, said statewide retest results haven't come in yet.

He said a "vast majority" of appeals statewide have been successful in past years."" Of course they have.... again why bother with the test...waste of time ..money and resources.Forget Public Education...HOME SCHOOL !!!!

If this test is the determining factor as to whether or not a student is allowed to advance, then why should the student be exposed to various tests throughout the school year? Why not just prepare for this test? I'm sure that it may then produce different results. However, when a student has passed every subject, in every performance report all year long, then take this test and fail it and be held back is totally preposterous.

I really think these tests should be looked into by a higher ranking authority. Too much of a "good thing" is unbelievable. Something, somewhere, isn't measuring up, and I think it's more than the students.

We all know they will get promoted...it's eyewash, nothing more.

Many BOEs don't even follow the rules regarding appeals and just pass everybody. That's what Burke County does. They just develop a "rubric" and say that it meets the state requirement and amazingly all students meet the "rubric" requirements to pass. Then it seems a big surprise when the same students fail those content areas in the next year. For a moment think about what the effect of not retaining these student has on other students. They learn they don't have to try on the test or do their best. Way to set them up for a future successful life. Follow the rules and hold children to high expectations!

jtr0777, do you really not know that the tests are for learning the childs progress? Your post makes very little sense. Are you a Richmond Count school board member?

The district needs to review each and every teacher of any student who passed the retest / learned in 15 days what they didn't learn the whole school year. For the sake of the students who passed, particularly those who passed the first time - Please do not socially promote those who failed. Why should another teacher and a class of students who get it and are ready to move on and learn new material be held back while waiting for the lowest learner to catch up. Mr. Tofig states the appeals process is to determine if the results are an anomaly. Interesting choice of words Mr. Tofig - FYI near 50% and 1500 students is not an anomaly.

This situation didn't exist when each class was separated into three paths that a student could choose from. The fast track for those that were serious about their education, the middle track for those that just wanted to keep their grades high enough to not get punished at home, and the slow track for those that showed up for school under duress. Social promotions weren't as much of a problem before the progressive "one size fits all" government education method was instituted. Obama ' 08

I don't understand why there hasn't been even a whisper about the reading scores. I understand that the math program is changing rapidly and is more rigorous but when 46% of the retakes in 3rd graders continue to fail reading and those numbers only climb in the higher grades we are doing them a great disservice by considering promoting them! Yes it is only one subject area-- that is an essential building block for all of the others. Another thing, if all of these children are promoted what does that tell the rising 3rd, 5th and 8th graders? There is no standard for promotion!

It just proves the continuing "dumbing down" of America is still running full speed ahead.

Everyone is just talking about the retest without considering the original test results. statingtheobvious, about 80% of the 3rd graders passed the first time around on the reading test. You have to look at the numbers overall. Check ABC6 news also and see the report on how many test were given and failed vs. just the retest. In several cases,the pass rate on the original test for reading was 80% or better. We all know what happend with math state-wide this year to contribute to such a dramatic change. If you look at some grades, last year 80% passed the math compared to 50-60% this year. New material, more difficult, still means work to be done but must look at the entire picture.

When students were tracked, there were lower expectations for the students in the lower two tracks. When you expect less, you get less. The problem still existed, it just wasn't brought to light. The new standards and the CRCT are tough on both the students and the teachers. All of these students may not be retained, but, from my little vantage point, I am seeing more being retained than ever before. Complicated problems do not have simple solutions, but the higher standards and the Response to Intervention concept are steps in the right direction.

With few exceptions, these kids will be promoted. It would be a logistical (and fiscal) nightmare if they were not. The biggest problem will come when these kids are blended into classes with others who are on track and ready for the next level. The system no longer allows for the separation of students by academic ability (I am speaking of high school). In turn, many of these students will constitute the bulk of those who fail EOCT's in ninth grade Language and Math. Graduation rates are based mainly on the number of Freshmen who remain four years later as Seniors. Many of the incoming freshmen are not prepared for high school; neither academically nor emotionally, so they end up in GED classes when they're twenty-one. I'm not completely sure what the "fix" is, but as an educator, I'm willing to listen.

Seems like a lot of parents have no confidence in the ability of their children. If they did, they would help to ensure that their child excelled at their school work. Always fighting the school system,teaches your children how to find an easy way out of life's situations. Our children need to learn higher math at an earlier age. Students graduating from high school should have high enough SAT and ACT scores to be exempt from any developmental classes when they go to college. College is not the place to teach them grade school Math and English. We need to stop social promotion. We need to encourage and push our children to achieve. They are capable, and we need to show them we believe they can do this! Right now we are sending them the wrong message. How do I have room to talk? Because my children graduated from an excellent university and now lead productive lives, because I pushed them. We are not rich, and they have a diploma and school loans to prove it. I even held one back in the fourth grade because he could not do the work. I asked the principal and teacher to hold him back. They were willing to promote him. Help your child get a life!

It would be a nightmare to retain all of these students, I agree. I'm sure that not all need to be retained. Some hare probably already been retained. Hopefully, the ones who may benefit from retention will get what is in their best interests.

coalminerpa, If there were more parents like you, then there would be fewer newspaper articles like this.

Here we go again...same story. Of course the appeals will work. Of course they will be promoted. Of course we are going back to the same story. If the students did not learn in one school year how can they learn in two weeks? Richmond county needs to examine the teachers and push the parents for involvment. If Dr. Bedden does not come out and visit his schools without a...notice he will never know what is going on in his schools. Parents who do not believe in education ruin this shcool system. Everything starts at home. I have two children and I work full time. I do not have any social life during the week and I am on top of their lives and schools. I check them nightly and I keep in touch with the teachers via e-mails and meetings. It is sad now that there are so many ways to keep in touch we do not support our teachers and help our kids. Teachers who do not push the kids do it because they do not have parent support. If the parents do not show in meetings or do not sign the papers send home what can a teacher do? Call your home?
Most of the times these parents do not give the school the correct phone numbers either...that is where richmond county is nowdays...very sad...

I believe the schools have the classroom space for retaining these students. They may have to hire some more teachers and lose some ie: in 6th and 9th grades. I feel that there are students that should go on and that would be based on their current report card. I know of students that were c average and unless they were d and below they should be able to catch up. If these students are retained, the next school year will have all of them on track. Then there is the other flip flop side. If Johnny already failed 1st and 3rd his butt needs to get out of elementary school cause he ain't doing nothin but causing problems in the classroom and the school and will most likely quit when he is 16 anyway. Lots of deciding factors here!!!!!

You have a few good points here tech. I agree about Johnny. These Johnny's need to be retained also.

I am curious to know what the actual numbers are from each individual school in Richmond County. This would show which schools have the greatest number of students failing this test, or if it is pretty much even throughout the county. Maybe that way the RCBOE could target these schools locally as needs-improvement schools and formulate a plan to get them up to par. I remember watching "inspirational educational" films such as Lean On Me; looks like we could use a guy like Joe Clark here.

There are so many ills of public education today that the CRCT debacle (testing, retesting and "meeting" for placement) is just another sympton in a long list. The poorly motivated will continue to be so because there is no reason not to be! In their mind, why should they work hard? "It's boring" and they'll be promoted anyway! That's just more brain cells they can save to kill other ways. Sad!!!

ditto JustaVoice, this is a huge conglomerate problem. It is the result of an entire culture that has devalued learning and education and, on an even larger level, morality with many people to blame on all levels: parents, teachers, students, school boards, community, television, etc. etc. A fix? That is what we all want, a quick fix but it is going to take Bedden years of hard work to bring this school system up to par. It would take a book, or maybe even a weekly magazine's worth of text, to explain why schools / students fail. Even in a particular case such as this, with these particular students. Why are these particular students failing? I bet if we all met them, and their particular families and teachers, only then would we find the answer.

and along with that redapples, "and in about a year, I can have a baby and start getting that check or I can wait a couple of years and get my own check, sit on the proch and smoke that crack!

Oh, and don't forget, it may just be the test. How is the rest of the state doing? We may be bent all out of shape over an invalid and unreliable test. Add one more thing to the list of potential problems here.

redapples, the only reason kids get "bored" is because they are not being challenged in their studies. Take my kids for example, they can get their homework done fast and make good grades, but I need to teach them to be more accurate cause they sometimes miss questions and are not double checking their answers. By getting them to practice what they learn, they have to use those skills in some way at home. They have to practice science by doing fun experiments, history by digging a hole to look for clues of what was here before our home was built, english to write pen pal letters, math cause at some point they have to measure the land, build something, or cook, or use money to include tax and inflation, and lets not forget art or sports. Yes this takes up their day, but chores are not an excuse to get out of doing what needs to be done either, cause they have to learn to work and do a job well or they don't get paid.

I would like to know how many students were in each subgroup (out of the 1500) in order to better understand the numbers. I believe that in addition tothe fact that teachers need to do a better job of planning and delivering instruction, PARENTS need to do a better job of making sure the child not only completes his/her homework but also understands it. Parents need to be more involved in their child's education and should not request an appeal iif they did not do their part to ensure their child's success. IT IS AMAZING THAT PARENTS WILL BUY $100 JEANS OR SHOES BUT WILL NOT SPEND $100 TO GET THEIR CHILD A TUTOR.

Why are the teachers blamed for the students failure? When did parents lose this responsibility!

Good point Mr. Bowles. Too many times people want to blame teacher for the failures of some of thses bad behind kids. Do we still have Truant Officers? What are the remedies for these disruptive students that will not allow the ones that wish to learn, the chance to do so?

I can understand why so many failed the math test. Algebra and Geometry in 6th grade. That is rediculous. Those were not offered when I was in school until Jr High (algebra) 9th grade (advanced algebra) and geometry in 10th grade. I still support going bcck to Jr HS (8th and 9th grades) rather thn middle school where 6th graders are exposed to 8th graders who are more mature at that age.