BCSD makes legitimate strides in Reading, still a long ways to go

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles that will take a deeper data dive into the Baldwin County School District's 2023-2024 test scores.

The unveiling of Georgia Milestones testing results is always highly anticipated for teachers and administrators around Georgia, for better or worse.

That day recently arrived, as the Georgia Department of Education released its course competency test scores for all school districts in Georgia. The results are from the 2023-2024 school year.

Included were scores from the Baldwin County School District, which was looking to bounce back after shockingly low 2022-2023 Milestones test scores.

The Milestones test is administered to public school kids in grades 3-12 and "designed to provide information about how well students are mastering the state-adopted content standards in the core content areas of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies," according to the Georgia Department of Education. 

For a nifty "Milestones FAQ," click here, while below is a Georgia Milestones hype video.

A component of English/Language Arts scoring is "Reading." The Reading score is derived from a combination of multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions that focus on vocabulary and the ability to interpret text passages.

In terms of Reading, the BCSD made some legitimate progress in the 2023-2024 scores, which show that 61.7 percent of BCSD fifth graders were reading "at or above grade level." This compares to 44.3 percent of fifth graders during the prior school year, an increase of more than 17 percent. At Oak Hill, meanwhile, seventh graders performed better, although the overall numbers remain down around the bottom in Georgia.

Here's a closer look. The first row of data represents the BCSD's Reading scores in 2023-2024 and how it compares to the statewide average. Meanwhile, the second table shows the same data from 2022-2023...

Also, here's how the BCSD's Reading scores rank among the 180 "city" and "county" school districts in Georgia:

• 3rd grade – 144th (20th percentile)

• 4th grade – 140th (22nd percentile)

• 5th grade – 138th (23rd percentile)

• 6th grade – 167th (7th percentile)

• 7th grade – 15nd (16th percentile)

• 8th grade – 160th (11th percentile)

Meanwhile, here's the same data from the 2022-2023 school year:

• 3rd grade – 159th (12th percentile)

• 4th grade – 159th (12th percentile)

• 5th grade – 171st (5th percentile)

• 6th grade – 152nd (16th percentile)

• 7th grade – 170th (6th percentile)

• 8th grade – 160th (11th percentile)

In summary, the BCSD made some legitimate and notable strides in Reading at the elementary school level and to a lesser extent at Oak Hill.

BCSD administrators certainly are trying. Along with other "literacy initiative measures," administrators are mandating that "all BCSD teachers in grades K-3 will be required to complete literacy training by June 2025," according to a press release.

“We are confident that our continued focus on implementation of targeted instructional strategies and efforts toward closing the learning gap will lead to higher student achievement,” said Superintendent Dr. Noris Price. “We are proud of our progress and the continued hard work of our teachers, staff, and students. While we are encouraged by the improvements in student performance, there is still a lot of work ahead of us to ensure that all of our students achieve at high levels and are prepared to succeed in life.”