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Students prepare for CRCT

• Students cheer each other on before sitting down for a weeklong standardized test that starts Monday.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — There’s nothing like a good ol’ pep rally to get folks excited about an event. Educators throughout the Dougherty County School System took that idea and put it to work in favor of academics.

In anticipation of next week’s Criterion Referenced Competency Test, schools throughout the system held pep rallies complete with cheerleaders, speakers and music meant to encourage students during the weeklong standardized test.

“It’s a motivational thing to try and make them understand that the CRCT means strictly business,” said Albany Middle Schools basketball coach Jesse Massey, who is known for his pep and student encouragement. “(The pep rallies) are to show them that we are behind them.”

The CRCT is a key component in determining Adequate Yearly Progress, a year-to-year measure of student achievement on statewide assessments and a cornerstone of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Students and educators have been working toward the test all year.

At Albany Middle School Friday, students cheered and hollered as the Albany High School Marching Band’s drum line filled the gymnasium with the crisp and round sounds of percussion, and the high school’s cheerleaders did a pep routine.

Before the AHS squad took to the gymnasium floor, elementary-age cheerleaders from Lamar Reese Magnet School of the Arts performed several dance and step routines from some of the hottest songs on the radio, and choreographed a routine to the chant of “CRCT and don’t you forget it. ... Lamar Reese says look out for the test.”

At Albany Middle, the hallways and gym were lined with banners promoting last-minute tips for the CRCT, such as “eat a good breakfast,” “dress in layers,” “get a good night’s sleep,” and “underline key words.”

Similar events were held at schools including Merry Acres Middle School and Lincoln Magnet Elementary School.

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