Cherokee District, Charter Excel on CRCT

Third, fourth and fifth graders at , and elementary schools and seventh and eighth graders at outperformed their county and state peers in all five subject areas of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.

And in its first year of operation, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh graders bested the county and the state in at least three of the CRCT's five content areas.

Those were some of the highlights from schools in ZIP code 30114 that learned Thursday how they fared on the high-stakes test.

The CRCT measures third- to eighth-grade students’ abilities in reading, English/language arts, math, science and social studies.

In order to advance to the next grade, students in third-grade must pass the reading portion of the exam while students in fifth- and eighth-grade must meet or exceed expectations in both reading and math.

That wasn't a problem in Cherokee County, where third graders at three schools—Ball Ground, Free Home and Macedonia—showed 100 percent proficiency in reading.

Fifth and eighth graders didn't have perfect showings in reading, but Booth (99.5), Freedom (99.4), Indian Knoll (99.3), Knox (99.1), Liberty (99.1), Little River (99.3), Macedonia (99.4) and Sixes (99.4) came close. The percentage of fifth and eighth graders who met or exceeded math standards wasn't as high. At , 79.4 percent eighth graders knew arithmetic.  fifth graders had the lowest passing rate: 65.5 percent.

Other schools that achieved perfection were:

• Knox Elementary third and fifth graders, English
• fourth graders, reading and English
• Cherokee Charter seventh graders, English.

“We set the bar high for our students,” said Vanessa Suarez, the founding principal of Cherokee Charter Academy. “They grabbed it and ran with it.” 

Some schools in Canton-Sixes Patch's coverage area lagged behind the county and the state. Scores for  third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders, and  fourth and fifth graders fell below county and state averages in all subject areas. Only 52.5 percent of Hasty's sixth graders passed the science portion of the CRCT. About 53.5 percent of Canton's sixth graders passed social studies.

Cherokee Superintendent Frank Petruzielo looked on the bright side. "Every CCSD school," he said in a statement, "saw improvements in scores in one or more grade levels and/or subject areas."

Last month, the Georgia Department of Education released - and -level results. As a state,  than the 2011 version. As a district, students  in every subject area and in every grade level.

"It should be noted that CCSD students continued to achieve success despite increasing challenges: diminishing state and local funding for education and climbing student enrollment, which have led to larger class sizes, and changing demographics," Petruzielo said. "It should also be noted that the percentage of CCSD students who receive free or reduced-price lunch has increased from 19 percent in 2004 to 31 percent today."

He said district officials "are proud of our students and teachers for their progress and success on these challenging tests, and are determined to provide all of the support they need to chart a path to even greater heights."

View the charts to see the percentage of students who met, exceeded or did not meet expectations on the 2012 CRCT.

For the full announcement from the Georgia Department of Education, click here.

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