Decatur County’s 2014 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) results were comparable to last year’s results.

Overall, the Decatur County School System did best on the science portion of the test across grades three through eight. The system, on average, did worse on the reading and math portions than many other systems in the state.

Grades three through eight ranked on average numbers 105 in reading, 98 in ELA, 109 in math, 58 in science and 94 in social studies out of 184 systems in the state of Georgia based on the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standards.

The state saw increases in the percentage of eighth graders who exceeded standards in all content areas. The number of Decatur County eighth graders meeting or exceeding standards increased in all five content areas. Eighth grade was the only grade level that did not see a decrease in any of the five content areas.

The tests, which were administered to all Georgia students in grades three through eight, will no longer be given to students. Beginning next year, students will take the Georgia Milestones, which is a new testing system that is one consistent program across grades three through 12, instead of a series of tests. The new system will also replace high school End of Course Tests (EOCT) and will “include open-ended questions to better gauge students’ content mastery,” according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Education.

Georgia Milestones will require more from students than the CRCT and EOCT, aiming to better prepare students for college and “to provide a more realistic picture of academic progress,” according to the release.

“A number of parents and students will be concerned about a more rigorous assessment,” said Dr. Suzi Bonifay, Decatur County Department of Education assistant superintendent.

In the future, the tests will be given all online, which may be intimidating to students that do not do well on online tests, but before that time comes students will have the opportunity to practice, Bonifay said.

According to the news release, “These increased expectations for learning may mean initially lower scores than previous years’ CRCT or EOCT scores, but that is to be expected and should bring Georgia’s tests in line with other indicators of how our students are performing.”