Georgia Milestones test results show encouraging signs for ACE, Macon's first charter school
The release of the first Georgia Milestones test results provided the first opportunity to assess academic data for Macon's first charter school.
The Academy for Classical Education opened for the 2014-15 school year, which was also the first year the Georgia Milestones test was administered across the state. School founder and principal Laura Perkins had maintained all along, though, that the test wouldn't be a focus for the educational model at ACE.
"We didn't look at any test prep material beforehand," she said. "When students learn how to learn, they're going to transpose those skills to any test they take."
Still, the school managed to top the district average for the percentage of third- through eighth-grade students that tested "proficient" or better in all 24 content areas for those grades. ACE beat the state average in 19 of the assessments.
The 2014-15 results will be used as a base line for schools and districts across the state, and future scores will also be used for student promotion and teacher evaluation. For ACE, the stakes will be even higher, as success compared to other schools is key to the school's standing with state agencies.
"The third year of testing, our scores will have to exceed the local and state scores," Perkins said, referring to goals on the school's charter, or contract.
ACE was not without its blemishes, particularly on fifth-grade tests. The school was below the state average in three of four content areas for that grade -- math, science and social studies.
Perkins said the key to correcting those lower marks would be figuring out what was working in other grade levels and discussing the results with faculty members.
"I think it's going to give us pause to think what we're doing in other areas that we're not doing in this area," she said.
In fifth-grade social studies, for example, 28.8 percent of ACE's students tested proficient or better, just below the state average of 29.2 percent. That stands in stark contrast to ACE's 59.3 percent proficiency rate in fourth-grade social studies and 79.4 percent proficiency in sixth-grade social studies.
Tony Jones, director of research, evaluation, assessment and accountability for the Bibb County school system, said that type of evaluation is the first step to reacting to a data set like the Georgia Milestones results. He said his department stands ready to help leaders across the district with that effort.
"We try to analyze the data in as many ways as possible to give the school leadership the best picture possible," Jones said.
He said the analysis would continue but that the state department was also expected to release a "growth profile" for individual students based on a formula using past scores on other tests. That data would provide a more specific look at school achievement, Jones said.
ACE BY COMPARISON
Even though the district averages didn't compare favorably to ACE, some of the county's schools did, including one from which the charter school drew a significant chunk of its enrollment.
During the 2014-15 school year, about 25 percent of ACE's elementary school students -- 118 children -- were zoned for Springdale Elementary. That school saw similar success to ACE and bested the charter school in the fifth-grade tests, among others.
Springdale notched a 52.6 percent proficiency rate in fifth-grade language arts, a test that also saw ACE top state averages with a 47.5 percent proficiency rate.
"Bottom line, because I have a fabulous group of faculty and staff that truly moves kids," Springdale principal Donna Jackson said.
To ensure that students of all grades are prepared for the test and to advance to the next grade level, Jackson said the school holds "collaborative planning" meetings that involve teachers from all grade levels.
In addition, the core subject areas -- which are assessed by the Georgia Milestones -- have been departmentalized at Springdale, with third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers working together to provide "vertical alignment" to math, language arts, science and social studies strategies.
"We truly believe in collaboration at Springdale," Jackson said.
ACE drew 75 students who went to Alexander II Magnet School in 2013-14, and Alexander II also scored well alongside ACE and Springdale.
Of the 12 elementary school assessments, ACE had the highest proficiency rate in the district on five of those tests, followed by four for Alexander II and three for Springdale.
The charter school came out on top more often at the middle school level, where ACE outperformed its traditional school counterparts on 10 of the 12 assessments. Rutland notched a 36.6 percent proficiency rate in seventh-grade social studies to edge out ACE's 32.2 percent, and 29.3 percent of Howard students rated proficient on eighth-grade social studies, compared with 25.6 percent of ACE students.
Students from Howard's school zone made up almost half of ACE's middle school population during the 2014-15 school year, with 130 students, or about 48 percent.
Regardless of results, Perkins remains resolute to ACE's commitment not to emphasize the skills that can be measured on a test above other skill sets.
"We want to see our children's talents shine in whatever way they come to pass," she said.
To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter@MTJTimm.
This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Georgia Milestones test results show encouraging signs for ACE, Macon's first charter school ."