CARROLLTON, GA – A Carrollton City Schools focused literacy initiative that has been in place for two years now is credited for the exceptional progress made on English/Language Arts proficiency on the Georgia Milestones, the state’s standardized assessment of student progress in grades 3 through 8, surpassing the state’s average gains. 

Particularly impressive is the leap sixth grade students have made from the “proficient” category of grade-level performance to the “distinguished,” or above-average category. These students outperformed sixth graders from the previous year by seven percentage points, a significant increase. Likewise, grade-level comparisons in this category from last school year showed a 55 percent gain in third grade, 64 percent gain in fourth grade, and more than 70 percent gain in fifth grade.

Anna Clifton, assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning, noted four of the six grades tested also saw gains in the combined proficient and distinguished categories, meaning students who performed below grade-level expectations the previous school year saw improvement. The third grade also had the highest gain in this category of 14 percentage points, or 45 percent. Sixth grade also posted a double-digit gain of 43 percent.

“We were confident last year that we were moving in the right direction,” said Clifton, citing strategies that have been put into place to improve student reading and understanding. “We are starting to see real improvement from our efforts and it is exciting to see these gains in performance.”

Growth was also seen when comparing specific cohorts of students. Last year’s third graders in the proficient and distinguished categories improved 23 percent as a group as fourth graders while last year’s fifth graders improved 19 percent as this year’s sixth graders.

Clifton said last year’s Milestones results produced impressive improvements in math which continued this year, especially in moving students to a higher level of performance.

Carrollton Upper Elementary School saw some of the highest gains in this area, with sixth grade, once again, leading the way. These students outperformed last year’s sixth graders in the distinguished category by 8 percentage points, an 80 percent gain. Fifth graders also produced strong results, posting a 22 percent gain. At Carrollton Elementary School, third graders posted a 4 percentage point gain, representing 31 percent, and 17 percent of eighth graders at Carrollton Junior High School saw an uptick in distinguished performance.

Clifton said the district’s focus on aligning the efforts of all teachers and support staff have  greatly enhanced student learning.

“Bringing students from grade expectations to an advanced performance shows our teachers challenge students to take them to a higher level,” said Clifton. “Their commitment to student growth through hard work and a strong teamwork approach produced outstanding results.”

Carrollton High School student performance was comparable to state averages on the End-of-Course tests and saw improvement when compared to CHS scores from spring of 2018 in analytical geometry, American literature, and U.S. history. CHS also surpassed the state averages in these subjects. 

Dr. Mark Albertus, superintendent, noted academic improvements in performance across all grades results in graduates who are college-and-career ready. Of the CHS Class of 2019, 79 percent of graduates are attending college this fall, while 18 percent plan to enter the workforce and 3 percent to join the military.

“Strong testing performance at our lower grades continues to set up student success for high school and beyond,” he said. “Our district continues to lead the way in ensuring our graduates are prepared for life.”