Bibb County school board scrutinizes Georgia Milestones scores including ELA results

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of board member Kristin Hanlon. The story has been edited to reflect the correct spelling of her name.

The Bibb County School District shared results from the Georgia Milestones test at the school board’s regular meeting Thursday night, celebrating small gains as the county continues to trail the state averages.

Test results released earlier this month show English scores fell statewide across grades three through eight while scores in other areas, including math, social studies and science, remained the same or increased marginally, according to the Georgia Department of Education’s Milestones dashboard.

District officials noted there is still room for improvement.

“While we see increases in reading statuses in some areas, the overall goal for this year is really to get every single student reading on or above grade level,” Superintendent Dan Sims said.
“I know that’s ambitious, but it’s possible.”

Board president Myrtice Johnson said while she acknowledges improvement in math scores, she
“wasn’t as pleased” with English scores.

The school district’s median reading across grades three through eight hovered “below grade level” last school year. The state’s third grade quantified reading score was 605, while Bibb County’s score was 525, according to the state’s reading dashboard.

The year-to-year change in the number of students reading at grade level varied between grades. The number of eighth graders reading at grade level fell by 6.5% compared to last year’s class.

Board member Daryl Morton asked about the “yo-yo” nature of reading scores, noting the fourth grade class had higher scores last year when they were third graders. 

Ethel Lett, the district’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said the variation could have resulted from teachers and schools trying to reach the rigor of state standards. She added that the district should be seeing an increase in scores for each class, year after year.

“It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison either,” she told Morton. “Those third grade students are compared to last year’s third grade, but they aren’t the same students.”

Lett said the district works closely with state curriculum guidelines and “aligns expectations” in special education and after-school programs. She also spoke about central office efforts, such as the district-wide “school walk,” which works with teachers to improve instruction.

The school district highlighted score increases at individual schools on social media since the state release results on Aug. 8.

Sims said he wants to make sure “people don’t get so down in the dumps” when improvements aren’t at the level they had hoped. 

“It’s important that we focus on recognizing schools when they are making progress,” Johnson said.

The district has honed in on literacy initiatives as the answer to improving student performance. Sims has pushed a K-2 literacy campaign, which he said helps build a reading “foundation” for kids as they move into third grade.

The board also accepted grants for its afterschool programs and approved a contract of $233,674, awarded to KD Epps Enterprises LLC, for a new school-based health center at L.H. Williams Elementary School in the historic Pleasant Hill neighborhood.

The board postponed voting on a policy that board member Henry Ficklin took issue with in a previous board meeting. The policy “removes overly prescriptive duties that make it challenging to align with established or changing protocols,” according to the district’s memo, but Ficklin said the policy would limit the board’s ability to hold the district accountable. 

The board voted nearly unanimously to take the policy off the agenda, with board member Kristin Hanlon voting against the measure.