Thursday, August 15, 2013

Impressive CRCT results at Springdale Park, Morningside Elementary and Inman Middle School

The following was written by a Virginia Highland resident regarding test scores at Springdale Park Elementary, test scores at Morningside Elementary and test scores at Inman Middle School.

[Normal disclaimer - Standardized tests only represent one data point about the quality of education and the student experience at a school. Too much focus on tests (or practice tests) is not good. At the same time, I know we prefer our neighborhood schools remain high performing, even if we don't have a child attending.] 

Springdale Park, Morningside and Inman Middle students were among the top performing again last school year on the Georgia CRCT tests. From the spreadsheet at the DOE website, I totaled the mean score for all 5 subjects tested and then sorted the schools highest to lowest. This is not an analysis of % that "Meets" or "Exceeds" which is also a valuable data point. This is more about raw test scores.

SPARK 5th graders scored 32 out of 1234 traditional, public schools when the mean scores of all 5 subject were summed (top 2.6%). 

MES 5th graders were #14 out of 1234 (top 1.2%). Both MES and SPARK students scored on par with the usual suspects of Smith, Brandon and Jackson elementaries in Buckhead.

Inman Middle School students scored 36 out of approximately 540 public middle school grades (top 6.7%). Not every school is organized 6-8th, but you can compare the grade levels statewide. A few of the schools above Inman are math/science magnets.

Inman student results were impressive to me again this past year, particularly in light of the changes that APS handed Inman a few months before the 2012-2013 year started (Inman is now the sole feeder school to Grady HS).

The spreadsheets showing test scores at Springdale Park Elementary, test scores at Morningside Elementary and test scores at Inman Middle School are available at http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/communications/Pages/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?PressView=default&pid=120.