Don’t call it a test. The Georgia Department of Education prefers that you call it “Georgia Milestones Assessment System.” The new “system” replaces the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) for determining if kids are learning anything in Georgia schools.
For hundreds of Habersham County elementary and middle school students, unaware of the state’s spin, Tuesday is the beginning of testing week in language arts, math, science, and social studies. They’ve been getting ready with in-class test prep and school-wide pep rallies.
Local school administrators say there are big differences between CRCT and Milestones. The most obvious is the method of testing. For its first year, the state mandates that 30 percent of Habersham students take the test online meaning 3rd graders needed to be taught typing skills. In 4 years, all Milestones testing will be online.
The content of the test is significantly different too, “There are open-ended questions,” explains, Habersham Schools Superintendent Matthew Cooper. “We’ve never seen that on assessments. It’s always been multiple choice. Now students will actually write out some of their answers on the state test.”
Milestones is also harder, “We expect that our students are going to have to think at higher levels,” says Cooper. “Which I believe, as superintendent, is a good thing. It should’ve happened 25 years ago.” Cooper also expects what he calls “growing pains” with the new assessments.
The state is experiencing some pains in rolling out the new tests. The first year results won’t be available until the fall so the DOE says students in grades 3, 5 and 8 don’t have to pass the standardized tests in English language arts and math in order to advance to the next grade.
Once everything is up and running, proponents claim the tests will be better because it is specifically designed for each grade level to prepare students for what is next academically. That means 3rd graders will be tested to make sure they can succeed in 4th grade while 8th graders are assessed to see if they’ve mastered what they need in high school.
The state DOE developed Georgia Milestones and is paying CTB/McGraw-Hill $107.8 million over five years to handle the program. It replaces CRCT for lower grade levels while high schools will use it in place of the old graduation tests.
Milestones testing at the 9th Grade Academy and Habersham Central High School will begin next month.
