Test scores show many children not ready for next grade

ATLANTA - Georgia pupils improved in nearly every category of state-mandated tests, but many still would not advance to the next grade according to test scores released Monday. <br> <br> School children in every grade through middle school were tested last school year on math, reading, science and social studies. Starting in 2004, students who fail reading or math in third, fifth and eighth grades won&#39;t make it to the next grade. <br> <br> If the tests counted Monday, those failing to pass would include more than a third of 8th graders -- 34 percent failed math -- and about one in five fifth graders -- 21 percent failed English-language arts. <br> <br> But teachers weren&#39;t sure what to make of the numbers because of Sonny Perdue&#39;s election. The governor-elect has promised to overhaul the sweeping education reform package passed in 2000, and the future of the mandated tests is in question. <br> <br> The Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests were an integral part of Governor Barnes&#39; education reform plan. The law called for annual student testing, with the results determining who passes and whether teachers receive bonuses. Educators at the lowest-performing schools could eventually be fired. <br> <br> Perdue&#39;s campaign was successful in part because he advocated a softer approach on education. Teachers cringed at the possibility of a single test being used to determine what a child has learned, and Perdue assured them he would consider changes to the law. <br> <br> Just days after being elected, the Republican publicly said he wanted to close the Office of Education Accountability, the state agency in charge of grading the CRCTs and the schools. <br> <br> But unless the Legislature passes a new school reform bill, the Barnes education system stands. Many of its provisions are now in federal law as well, so parts of it can&#39;t be changed even if state lawmakers want to get rid of them.