Georgia Receives Mixed Results on National Education Report
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has released its latest Educational Leaders and Laggards report. The analysis grades each state in several academic areas. The report shows Georgia is leading in some and lagging in others.
Developing teachers: B-. Fiscal responsibility: A. Academic Performance: D. Georgia received mixed results on the report. But Cheryl Oldham, the foundation’s Vice President of Education and Workforce, says the state has improved since 2007.
“Georgia has made a decent amount of progress, relative to other states in the country,” she says. “So, there is progress. There is growth. I think, we just, you know, it’s important to note that we want to continue to see that growth.”
The Academic Performance score was calculated by comparing how students scored on a national test, called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, to their performance on state tests. Georgia Department of Education Spokesman Matt Cardoza says that doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Look at the raw data,” Cardoza says. “Look at the NAEP results and see the progress Georgia has made on the NAEP results themselves, not just how a group has taken those results and made a letter grade out of them.”
Georgia’s NAEP scores are close to the national average in most subjects. But it had the lowest passing standards in the country for state tests. That will change this year with the advent of a new testing system. Students will need to get more questions right in order to pass.
Oldham says that, along with improved academic standards and a new school evaluation system should help Georgia continue to progress.
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