Georgia Milestones data show improvement in core subjects throughout southwest Georgia

ALBANY – The Georgia Deptartment of Education released the 2023-24 Georgia Milestones Assessment scores recently, and the data show some statewide improvement in end-of-grade testing scores from third- through eighth-grade students.

The Georgia Milestones Assessment System provides information about student performance in mastering state content standards in the core content areas of English language arts, math, science and social studies. However, the latest assessment from 2023-24 did not share math scores due to a rewrite in math content standards. The math score assessment will be released this fall.

Across the state, more students achieved “proficient” or above scores in English testing than the previous school year. However, more than half the tested grades saw lower reading scores this year compared to last.

Data for each school system can be found at https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-2023-2024-Statewide-Scores.aspx.

Some of the data from the spring 2024 end-of-grade testing is broken down below:

Dougherty County saw more students making higher test scores than in the 2022-23 school year nearly across the board, especially in reading scores. Each grade, from 3rd to 8th, saw more students achieving reading test scores at grade level or above. The most dramatic increase was seventh-graders, who saw about an 11-percentage-point jump in that category.

Dougherty County School System’s only decline in end-of-grade testing was in the percentage of eighth-grade students scoring at proficient or above in Science and Social Studies.

The Lee County School System released a press release saying its students outperformed Georgia peers in the assessment system.

Some of the highlights for Lee County students include about a 5% growth in English Language Arts testing among third- and fifth-graders from the 2022-23 school year. Lee County High School students scoring proficient and higher on the United States History assessment also surpassed the Georgia state average by 32%.

Kelli Duke, the Lee County School System’s senior director of learning and leadership for grades 6-12, wrote that the system was thrilled to see students excel in the assessment. She wrote that improvement in Biology and U.S. History, specifically, reflect the dedication of educators and students.

“We have the best students, teachers, and leaders who have gone above and beyond once again,” Kathleen Truitt, the Lee County Schools superintendent, said in the news release. “We are looking forward to starting school in a few days to continue our path to excellence.”

Worth County fifth- and eighth-grade students improved their English and Language Arts scores, and eighth-graders also saw jumps in their Science and Social Studies scores.

Fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders in Terrell County Schools saw more students achieving a reading status at grade level or above in the 2023-24 school year than the prior year. In fact, fifth-graders saw about a 16 point rise.

The school system also saw a significant jump in fifth-graders testing proficient and above in Science.

Mitchell County saw an overall decline in the percentage of students achieving a reading status at or above grade level compared to the prior school year. Third- and fifth-grade students, however, saw a 7- to 9-point increase in that category. In Science proficiency and above, fifth-grade students saw a percentage point raise three times higher than the previous school year.

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