The 8th Grade Mathematics CRCT: a High-Stakes Assessment
Georgia's 8th grade math Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) is a test
that has special importance as a gateway in the state's assessment system;
students must either pass it or successfully appeal to their school system to
be promoted to 9th grade. The test also factors into middle schools' Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) calculations under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
After three years of preparation, piloting and teacher training on the new 8th
grade Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), the stakes were raised for both
students and schools this year. Students were asked to learn a more rigorous
curriculum and also to get more items correct on the test to earn a passing
score.
According to the
Georgia Department of Education, "Courses previously taught in grades
6-8 were extremely repetitious, addressing almost the same content in all three
grades. Expectations for student learning were not clear and in most cases,
demanded only low-level cognitive skills. Under the new GPS, by the time
students have finished 8th grade, they should have learned 80% of the concepts
and skills previously taught in Algebra I, 50% of the content traditionally
taught in high school geometry, and a significant amount of statistics and
probability previously taught in high school courses."
Highest Achievers on the New 8th Grade Math CRCT
When any curriculum and testing change is implemented, and the standards for
passing are raised, stakeholders should expect a dip in performance as students
and teachers get used to the new material and the new tests, followed by a
rebound of scores. Most subjects have followed that pattern in transitioning
from the old (QCC) standards to the new GPS. The average decline across the
state for 8th grade math in 2008 was 19 points. Clay County, Webster County and
Decatur City actually improved their scores in 2008.
What about Students Who Don't Pass the Test?
By law,
students who do not pass this test have two options to be promoted to 9th
grade: a) they can retake and pass the test; or b) after retaking the test,
they can appeal the decision to retain them in 8th grade to their school and be
promoted without passing the retest. Data from summer 2007 on subsequent tests
were not promising:
These data suggest that:
-
Only about half of the 8th graders (51.9%) who failed the 8th grade Math CRCT
retook it last spring.
-
The vast majority of 8th graders who did retest also failed the retest (92.7%).
-
Many students who did not meet standards in 2007 were classified as 9th graders
taking the 8th grade Math CRCT (19,051). The state appears to have had 19,051
students who had previously failed the 8th grade Math CRCT and yet had been
promoted to 9th grade; however, 61% of those 9th graders who took the retest
failed it again.
Yet, by law, Georgia schools and school districts are allowed to procedurally
promote students who did not pass the gateway CRCTs:
-
The student must retake the CRCT;
-
The school must convene a placement committee, comprised of the principal,
teacher, and parent or guardian, to "review the overall academic achievement of
the student in light of the performance on the CRCT and promotion standards and
criteria established by the local board of education, and make a determination
to promote or retain";
-
The decision to promote must be predicated upon the placement committee's
belief that the student will be successful at the next grade level if he
receives accelerated, differentiated, or additional assignments;
-
Finally, the placement committee must provide a plan for continuous assessment
at the next grade level for the student.
 |
Both Ends of Georgia's Retention Spectrum
In 2007, an average of 84.2% of the students in systems with 10 or more test
takers who did not meet (DNM) standards on the 8th Grade Math CRCT were
promoted to 9th grade in the fall of 2008.
Promotion rates of DNM students ranged from a low of 24.1% in McIntosh County
to a high of 100% in Bleckley, Glascock, Lincoln, Tattnall, Treutlen, Turner
and Warren Counties as well as Social Circle City Schools.
Source:Georgia Department of Education
|
 |
Retention vs. Promotion: the Jury's Still Out
Research is mixed on the effects of retention on students' future outcomes.
Most studies conducted over the past 75 years on
grade retention show that retained students tend not to improve their
academic achievement when they eventually do move on to the next grade level.
While it has been studied less frequently, a
2002 review of 17 studies shows that early grade retention also seems to be
related to (though not necessarily a cause of) a higher risk of dropping out of
school.
One
newer study, highlighted by researcher Jay P. Greene in an
op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on July 13, 2008, argues that
retained students slightly outperform socially promoted students. This study
examined Florida's test-based retention policy in 3rd grade and found that this
academic growth actually accelerates in the years after a student is retained.
Other large school systems from around the country, including New York and
Chicago, have struggled with this same policy. Chicago Public Schools in
particular have gone through
heated arguments over this topic in recent years. Chicago has kept a
retention policy in place, though with a close observer noting that in the end,
"without substantial supports, neither social promotion nor retention will
improve low-performing students." "Substantial supports" ideally would mean an
enriched, accelerated academic program that would, through additional help and
tailor-made interventions, result in a better outcome at the end of the
repeated grade.
Conclusion
Some school systems in Georgia have already had some success with the new math
standards. Most are faced with making decisions about their remediation and
retention programs and policies. Placement committees are able to override
retention decisions; parents are often able to make a case that their child,
despite failing a gateway test, earned a good grade in the course, and
therefore deserves to be promoted anyway. This begs the question: what is the
relationship between students' gateway test scores and students' grades in
related courses? Speaking on the topic of retention appeals to the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox
said that, "I think what this law is trying to do with the test is conquer that
issue [of grade inflation] more so than 'social promotion.'" GOSA will study
this relationship and publish reports in the coming months that explore the
link between course grades and students' success on Georgia's high school
End-of-Course Tests (EOCTs).
|
