School systems

in Georgia, including Coweta County, administered the first Criterion-Referenced

Competency Test in spring 2000.

This testing

is the result of the Georgia State Board of Education's adoption of the

Quality Core Curriculum in 1997, and the result of education reform legislation

adopted in recent years by the Georgia General Assembly.

CRCT covers

the content areas of reading, English/language arts, and mathematics in

grades four, six and eight.

Educators established

cut scores of 300 and 350 for the CRCT. Scores below 300 indicate a level

of performance below the standard. Scores from 300 to 349 indicate performance

that meets the standard, and scores at 350 and above indicate performance

that exceeds the standard.

"Unlike

the Stanford 9 and the ITBS [Iowa Test of Basic Skills], this is not a

normed test," said John Dunn, director of middle and high school

curriculum for the Coweta County School System.

"This

is a test to determine how well a student has learned a specific content

area" set out in the QCC, he said. In other words, students are not

scored in reference to other students' performance on the tests nationwide,

but by their mastery of the subject matters set out in statewide curriculum.

System-wide

results for the test (taken in spring 2001) show consistently that a higher

percentage of students in the Coweta County School System score in the

"exceeds expectations" level than do students statewide, while

a consistently lower percentage of Coweta County students fall into the

"does not meet expectations" category than do their counterparts

statewide.

The previous

year (1999-2000) was the first year for the CRCT. Coweta County's statewide

scores showed improvement in all categories from 2000 to 2001. A similar

criterion reference test (the CBE, or Criterion Based Exam) was administered

statewide several years ago.

According to

state requirements, students in grades one through eight will be administered

the CRCT during spring 2002, expanding from three to eight tested grade

levels. Dunn said that the test administered in those grades will be the

same format as the tests administered in 2001, except that testing in

the subject matters of science and social studies will be added in grades

three through eight.

The CRCT will

take on an added significance in the coming years (within about three

years), as it will become part of state requirements for promotion in

grades three, five and eight. Student performance on the test, at least

in part, will be used to determine promotion to the next grade for students

in those three grades.