Elementary students show improvement in reading and math

ATLANTA - Elementary and middle-school students in Georgia continued a three-year trend of improving their reading and math scores on a test that evaluates knowledge of the state curriculum. <br> <br> According to date released Wednesday, the strongest improvements were in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math. <br> <br> The results came from the Criterion-Reference Competency Tests, which the state will use to evaluate schools, hand out teacher bonuses and determine which students are promoted to the next grade. <br> <br> The encouraging test results came a day after a College Board report showed Georgia ranked 50th in the nation in SAT scores among high school seniors, ahead of only Washington, D.C. <br> <br> Governor Barnes said., ``The SAT is yesterday. The CRCT is tomorrow.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The SAT measures how students across the country answer the same questions; the CRCT measures whether students have mastered Georgia&#39;s curriculum. <br> <br> Fourth-grade reading scores improved from 65 percent of students with passing grades in 2000 to 79 percent in 2002. Passing scores in eighth-grade math went from 54 percent to 65 percent.