Mitchell school tests in top 50

6/14/2009 12:01:00 AM

Mitchell school tests in top 50

Ethan Fowler
Senior Reporter

ALBANY - Mitchell County High School students ranked 48th in the state on the Georgia High School Graduation Tests.

Students across the state take the tests for the first time in the spring of their junior year. Those who don't pass the test on their first try have four additional opportunities to meet the standards prior to completing 12th grade.

Mitchell County had 96.2 percent of its students pass the English/language arts and math portions of the test. The school had 92.41 percent of its students pass the science section of the test and 94.94 percent pass the social studies portion. It had 89.87 percent of its overall student population pass the test.

Phone messages seeking a response from Mitchell County officials were not returned by press time.

Lee County High School finished ranked 76th in the state. Lee County had 94.57 of its students pass the English/language arts area of the test, 98.11 percent pass the math portion, 92.41 percent pass science and 93.22 percent pass the social studies section. It had 87.36 percent pass the test.

"We were very pleased with our math scores," said Lee County High School Principal Kevin Dowling, who has worked at the school since 1994. "Three or four years ago, we were in the 70s in science, as were other schools in the state. I'm proud of the work that our teachers have done. You can't get too caught up in the numbers, but we look to see if our kids are improving."

Westover Comprehensive High School had the top ranking among the Dougherty County School System's four high schools. Westover was ranked 124th out of 361 schools with 82.61 percent of its students passing the tests. It had 90.97 percent of its students pass the English/language arts portion, 92.06 percent pass math, 91.67 percent pass science and 86.59 percent pass social studies.

Albany High ranked 220th with 76.12 percent of its students passing. It had 87.5 percent pass English/language arts, 91.88 percent pass math, 88.24 percent pass science and 85.82 percent pass social studies.

Monroe Comprehensive High ranked 318th with 65.92 percent of its students passing. It had 84.35 percent of its students pass English/language arts, 88.21 percent pass math, 79.3 percent pass science and 75.45 pass social studies.

Dougherty High ranked 337th with 61.05 percent of its students passing. Dougherty students scored an 86.29 passing rate in English/language arts, 88.64 percent in math, 83.43 percent in science and 68.6 percent in social studies.

Dougherty County School System Test Coordinator Renee' B. Bridges broke down the system's results.

"We decreased by one point in (English/language arts) compared to the state's one-point gain," Bridges said. "We remained the same in math (90 percent) compared to the state's one-point gain. We increased by four points in social studies compared to the state's one- point gain. We increased by five points in science compared to the state's two-point gain."

Baconton Community Charter School had 71.88 percent of its students pass the test but was not ranked by the state since it had fewer than 50 test takers. Pelham High had 75 percent of its students pass the test to finish with a 232nd ranking. Worth County Comprehensive High had 68.08 percent pass the test and ranked 295th. Terrell County High School ranked 338th with 60.98 percent of its students passing.

As for the state, the percentage of students meeting standards on the Georgia High School Graduation Tests rose from the previous year in all four subject areas, said Dana Tofig, the Georgia Department of Education's communications director. He said the pass rate on the science exam increased two points to 88 percent, and the English/language arts exam rose one point to 90 percent.

Savannah Arts Academy was the top school with 100 percent of its 154 students passing the test. Davidson Fine Arts, with 82 test takers; Ware Magnet, with 45 test takers; and Forsyth County Academy; with 14 test takers; also had 100 percent of their students pass.

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Mitchell school tests in top 50

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