Georgia’s students are bouncing back from the pandemic’s strain on their education, but their test scores strain to reach pre-pandemic levels.
The Georgia Department of Education released their yearly Milestones test results on Friday, showing that student scores for grades 3-8 and at the high school level have improved since the pandemic, but that many students struggle to catch up.
For the third year in a row, Milestones test results cannot be used to assign A-to-F letter grades to schools and districts. According to school officials, because testing could not be conducted in 2020 and few students took the tests in 2021, comparison between 2021 and 2022 results would be unreliable.
Instead of using the results as a statewide grading tool, state officials plan to use the 2022 test results as a baseline for calculating academic improvement and to incentivize schools to invest in reaching pre-pandemic standards.
However, NWEA, a not-for-profit that creates student testing material, released a report last week showing that full academic recovery “is years away,” and that federal aid is dwindling faster than students can recover. NWEA also reports that students of color and students in high-poverty schools remain disproportionately affected by the pandemic.