State waives Georgia Milestones retention and promotion policy

ALBANY — The State Board of Education on Thursday granted a waiver of promotion, placement and retention requirements tied to the 2016 administration of the Georgia Milestones End of Grade assessment tests.

During this year’s administration of the Georgia Milestones EOG tests, some local school districts reported technology-related interruptions of online testing. While some of these events were short-term and quickly resolved, with minimal impact on student experiences, others required more extensive technical support.

The GaDOE has decided further analysis of the possible impacts of these interruptions is warranted prior to the release of student scores, given the stakes involved for students.

State officials said roughly 7 percent of the state’s 181 school districts suffered some type of interruption during the five-day testing cycle. Dougherty County Schools spokesman J.D. Sumner, however, pointed out that the local system had the fewest number of irregularities of all school districts in Georgia.

“I am committed to a responsible approach to accountability that ensures public trust in the process,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Given the technology issues experienced by some students during the online administration of the Georgia Milestones EOGs, we believe it is best to proceed with caution when it comes to basing promotion, placement and retention on the outcome of the tests.

“While many districts tested online without a major incident, in the interests of our students, we asked the State Board of Education for a waiver of the promotion, placement and retention portion of the rule.”

Tossing out the 2015-16 Milestones results now has local school districts scrambling to put together new promotion and retention formulas.

The DCSS held a principals meeting late Thursday afternoon to discuss their options — which appear to be using the system’s milestones results or going to teacher grades sheets to determine pass/fail status of individual students. Superintendent Butch Mosely said a decision will be made early next week on how to deal with the issue.

State law requires that students in grade 3 earn an At or Above Grade Level designation in reading to be promoted to fourth grade. In grades 5 and 8, state law requires that students earn an At or Above Grade Level designation in reading, as well as score in the Developing Learner achievement level or above in mathematics to be promoted to the next grade.

These are the promotion, placement and retention requirements being waived for the 2016 EOG administration. Some local school systems have additional promotion criteria, and this waiver will not preclude school districts from applying local policies and protocols for promotion and retention decisions for individual students.

The decision to waive the Milestones results will also affect teacher assessments.

GaDOE said pending the approval of the Educator Effectiveness Committee, student growth will be held harmless for the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System/Leader Keys Effectiveness System this year, and will not count next year with the revised evaluation system.

The Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards component of the TKES and the Leader Assessment on Performance Standards component of the LKES will continue to be the sole measures used to determine the performance rating of teachers of record and leaders reported by employing school systems and charter schools to the GaPSC for certification purposes.