New Math Tests Stump High School Students
New state math tests are stumping most Georgia high school students. Education officials released results of the latest end-of-course tests this week.
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The majority of Georgia students met or exceeded standards for most courses, including English literature, biology, and U.S. History.
But math is a different story. Just 35% of students passed the analytic geometry exam; 40% passed coordinate algebra. But Department of Education spokesman Matt Cardoza says the scores are actually somewhat encouraging.
“The trend was even positive in coordinate algebra, although the overall performance was certainly not where we’d want it to be,” Cardoza says. “So, the trend is good, it saw a three-point increase, so that’s moving in the right direction.”
Next year, the end-of-course tests will be replaced with new, tougher assessments. But state testing director Melissa Fincher says she doesn’t expect math scores to plunge further.
“Those two tests were developed to begin to send that more rigorous expectation and signal, and so I wouldn’t expect on the high school math to see drastic differences from what we see now, simply because we developed those tests knowing where we were headed,” Fincher says.
The new testing series, called Georgia Milestones, will ask students to explain their answers and show their work. Students will take exams at the end of each grade instead of each course.
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