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PAGE 14A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 7. 2021
Milestone scores are down, but better than expected
27 weeks missed due to COVIDput schools in uncharted territory
Timeline
Six Year Comparison - EOG
Developing, Proficient, and Distinguished Learners
Data Source: SLDS
2020
March 12 - Announce schools closed 3/16-3/26
March 17 - School closing extended through 3/31
March 26 - Classes suspended through 4/24
April 2 - Gov. Kemp closed school bldgs. For the
remainder of the school year
April 16 - BOE voted to continue distance learning
and end the year for students on 5/8/20
April 20 - Converted to a 4-day school week with
"Flex Friday" in place; 2nd semester grades
would not be lower than the grade on March 13;
assignments were scaled back middle/Jr. High/High
May 11 - Aug 17 = 14 weeks ("Summer Slide”/Delay start)
August 17 - Staggered start / Virtual Academy offered
October 12 - Harmony Elem. closed (reopen 10/26)
October 22-Tate Elem. closed (reopen 11/5)
October 26 - District transitioned to distance learning
(through 11/6)
October 28-30 - Tropical Storm/Power issues in community
December 1 - Inclement weather
December 16 -18 - District transitioned to distance learning
(to return 1/4/21)
2021
January 4 - Closed for the remainder of the week
January 11 - 22 - District in distance learning
January 25- In-person classes resumed for the district;
Implementation of staff attendance chart
February 2-12 - Hill City Elem. closed
March 26 - Weather/Power & Flooding
27? - School board members were shocked to see that all the COVID days, plus weather
events added up to 27 weeks of missed classroom learning. One board member even asked
if that was really 27 weeks, not days. And the answer was yes, definitely weeks.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
The school board held a
rare Monday afternoon called
meeting to hear a report on
low student Milestone test
scores here, and the cause
and efforts underway to rem
edy that.
Board members also
looked at some measures to
offer additional compensa
tion for bus drivers and other
lower paid, non-certified,
employees.
Much like a student bring
ing home a bad report card,
the school district began the
presentation by noting the
COVID year had produced
atypical challenges.
Director of Community
Engagement & Public Rela
tions Destini Shope pre
sented a timeline showing
where Pickens students
missed 27 weeks of school -
some coming at crucial times
due primarily to COVID clo
sures, but also due to turbu
lent weather.
The 27 weeks came as an
apparent surprise to board
members, as one of the board
could be heard saying, they
thought it was going to be 27
days, not weeks.
In after-meeting com
ments, Superintendent Tony
Young said in 2020, Pickens
students missed much more
classroom time to COVID
than the rest of the RESA
area (surrounding counties).
Young said when he became
interim superintendent in
January 2021, he changed a
key policy so schools only
closed if there wasn’t enough
staff to operate. Since that
time no school has com
pletely closed, even though
higher COVID rates have
been reported throughout the
community.
Young notes that Pickens
has slipped academically in
recent years compared to the
RESA but they slipped even
more over the past year and it
seems clear the time schools
were closed here is the cause.
The presentation by
Shope noted that at the state
level there shouldn’t be any
impact on individual teachers
or schools because of low
Milestone scores. As the
COVID years were so atypi
cal it’s not fair to compare
scores with those from pre
pandemic scores.
Shope said realizing that
local students had missed 27
weeks of face-to-face instruc
tion since the pandemic
started, “really makes you
step back and take another
look.”
The school district recog
nizes the best instruction is
face-to-face in the classroom
and Shope expressed concern
that so much missed time
may be hard to ever make up.
“We did the best we knew
how to do,” she said. “We
were in a situation that was
new to all of us. It was un
charted territory.”
The scores presented
ranged from grade three to
high school and included end
of grade and end of class tests
at different levels and in dif
ferent subjects. They are
available at the e-board
section at the school’s web
site pickenscountyschools.org.
With very few exceptions
Pickens students performed
worse than the RESA (other
nearby systems) and in many
areas were worse than the
state average.
A few exceptions popped
up such as 6th grade Math,
8th grade ELA and the high
school Physical Science stu
dents “who knocked it out of
the park,” according to Shope
with 100 percent of the stu
dents in that area passing.
Milestone scores are
grouped into four categories:
beginning learners; develop
ing learners; proficient learn
ers and distinguished
learners. In simple terms the
top two categories (proficient
and distinguished) can ad
vance to the next grade level
without additional support.
Developing learners can ad
vance but only with extra
support, and beginning learn
ers aren’t ready to advance
without substantial help.
In Pickens schools, the ad
ministration has been work
ing across the system to
implement additional support
in numerous forms from
more personnel in class
rooms, more training and
more tutoring opportunities.
Shope presented the board
lists of changes made to ad
dress the low scores, some
funded with COVID money
allocated to schools.
“It is critical we address
learning loss,” she told the
board. “Twenty-seven weeks
is a long time.” She said they
are already doing the best
they can to make up for the
missed time with their aca
demic personnel working
diligently and monitoring to
see how it is working.
Board chair Sue Finley
said the scores were better
than many had expected con
sidering the circumstances.
“Teachers and kids did better
than the circumstances would
have predicted,” she said.
She said there is a lot of work
to do but the hard work al
ready shows.
Pickens students rock
on SATs
While the overall student
body may have struggled,
Pickens students taking the
ELA
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
3rd Grade
59%
ro
Q)
>
69%
72%
69%
64%
63%
4th Grade
66%
1c
c
Q)
78%
63%
70%
70%
66%
5th Grade
71%
>
'go
(1)
<D
65%
73%
75%
77%
73%
6th Grade
73%
$
c
(U
72%
70%
68%
68%
70%
7th Grade
62%
£
0)
64%
72%
65%
76%
68%
8th Grade
80%
<
o
z
78%
77%
84%
80%
78%
2021 Guidance from the DOE states, "In general, year-to-year comparisons should not be made using school- and district-level data"
Six Year Comparison - EOG
Developing, Proficient, and Distinguished Learners
Data Source: SLDS
MATH
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
3rd Grade
75%
<b
>■
84%
88%
82%
79%
75%
4th Grade
81 %
IE
c
a>
89 %
86%
82%
87%
79%
5th Grade
62%
'So
0)
a)
61%
72%
75%
71%
67%
6th Grade
78%
$
c
87%
84%
82%
77%
73%
7th Grade
75%
E
a)
77%
82%
79%
80%
81 %
8th Grade
76%
<
o
z
78%
77%
80%
76%
78%
2021 Guidance from the DOE states, "In general, year-to-year comparisons should not be made using school- and district-level data"
Acknowledging these charts are fairly complicated, Supt. Tony Young said they show
well how the schools here had performed pre-pandemic and afterward. In simple terms
the percentage shows the students judged ready to move to the next grade with either min
imal or no extra support.
2021 SAT Scores - RESA Comparison
TOTAL MEAN SCORE
District Name
SATTestTakers •
Total Score Mean
Evidence-Based
Reading and Writing
Mean
Math Mean T
i
Cherokee County School District (GA)
1.334
1125
569
556
2
Pickens County Schools
101
1123
571
552
3
Whitfield County Schools
151
1043
532
511
4
Murray County Schools
142
1008
517
490
5
Gilmer County Schools
121
1001
515
487
SAT posted impressive aver
ages, finishing just barely be
hind Cherokee County and
well ahead of all other school
systems in the region. Pick
ens students actually finished
higher than Cherokee stu
dents in the language portion
of the test used for college
admissions, but fell back a
little in math portion.
In other business, the
board heard and discussed
but didn’t take any action on
a couple of smaller items that
could improve salary for bus
drivers, lunchroom workers
and other non-teaching,
lower paid job categories.
The board heard that the
system, like all school sys
tems in the nation, are des
perate to attract and retain
bus drivers. They cur
rently operate with 61 drivers
and 69 percent of them have
fewer than 10 years experi
ence.
The board looked at some
ways to funnel more pay to
wards the drivers, including
incentives for attendance;
changing the salary structure.
Board member Tucker
Green said he had been talk
ing with bus drivers and be
lieves they need some new
measures to make the job
more appealing. “These are
nice, low cost things we can
do to help drivers,” he said.
While the board did not
vote on any of the actions,
they showed support and su
perintendent Tony Young
was instructed to begin look
ing at the different initiatives.
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