After nearly two years of school closures and quarantines caused by COVID-19, state standardized test results published by the Georgia Department of Education paint a clearer picture of how the constraints of the pandemic might have affected learning and student success.
Across the board, students in Georgia did worse on the Georgia Milestones Assessment System tests in 2021 than in pre-pandemic 2019, indicating that students today are not meeting grade-level achievement at the same rates that students in 2019 did.
The percentage of students who only demonstrated "partial proficiency" in the tested subjects decreased by 2 to 9 points statewide from 2019 to 2021, varying by grade level and content area. There also was a decrease in the number of Georgia students who passed end-of-course tests in biology, algebra, U.S. history and American literature.
Education officials, however, warned against using the 2020-2021 test results to make year-to-year comparisons, as thousands of students opted out of taking the tests - which were only offered in person on school campuses and not online.
"It is critical that this year's scores be interpreted in the context of the pandemic and related learning disruptions," said Georgia's school superintendent, Richard Woods, in a statement accompanying the release of scores on Monday. "When performance is lower, the scores do not indicate whether students had the opportunity to learn all of the content standards or whether, due to pandemic-related learning disruptions, students only had the opportunity to learn some of the content standards. In the context of the pandemic, many districts had to prioritize which content standards could be delivered."
Students take their first standardized tests in third grade. According to the state Department of Education, the percentage of enrolled students in Georgia who were tested ranges from 79% in third grade to a low of 55% in high school.
In Northwest Georgia - which includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon, Murray, Walker and Whitfield counties - students participated at slightly higher rates, with most schools boasting more than 90% participation amongst the lower grade levels.
For those younger students, education officials identify reading and English language arts scores as critical milestones that can indicate the likelihood of future academic success.
Murray County Schools saw the largest number of students in the region - 50.7% of tested third graders - who did not meet grade-level standards for reading. Walker County Schools and Chattooga County Schools tested slightly higher among their third-grade students, with 45.2% of all tested students reading below grade level.
Chickamauga City Schools achieved the best early reading test scores in Northwest Georgia, with 88.3% of third-grade students reading at or above grade level. According to the data, 100% of Chickamauga City Schools third graders were tested.
In English language arts, Murray County Schools once again saw the largest number of third-grade students fail to meet grade-level standards in the region.
At 49.8%, nearly half of all Murray County third graders were classed as "beginner learners," or students who need "substantial" help preparing for the next grade, according to the Georgia Department of Education website.
"Given the magnitude of learning disruptions experienced this school year, these decreases in performance are not particularly large," Woods said. "There is historical precedent to expect to see achievement increase at a similar rate in coming years as we return to educational environments with fewer disruptions to learning."
The U.S. Department of Education waived the testing requirement for students in the spring of 2020 when school first closed due to concerns over COVID-19. Testing resumed last school year, though the results of those tests will not evaluate teachers or schools as they would ordinarily. Instead, the Georgia Department of Education plans to use 2020-21 test results to inform the types of support that will be needed to ensure student, educator and school success as pandemic recovery efforts continue.
Contact Kelcey Caulder at kcaulder@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.