CRCT results for Gainesville, Hall show improvement

By by Ken Stanford

Posted 8:19AM on Saturday, May 29, 2004

GAINESVILLE - Results of a test third-graders had to pass for promotion to the fourth grade were released Friday - and Gainesville and Hall County students showed improvements over last year, according to school officials. The Hall County School System had 309 third grade students who did not meet the 300 standard on their first attempt. "This represents 17.6% of our 1,753 3rd grade students," according to spokesman Gordon Higgins. "Parents and guardians of these 309 students will be contacted by phone beginning (Friday) so that arrangements can be made for these students to attend summer school and be given a second chance to pass the Reading portion of the test." For comparison purposes, the last time Hall County third-graders took the CRCT was in 2002. That year, 23% of them did not achieve a score of at least 300 on the Reading portion of the test. "This year's results reflect that the system is moving in the right direction, but more work is to be done before reaching the ultimate goal of having all students meet the standard on the first attempt," Higgins said. Parents of all students who took the Spring 2004 CRCT will be receiving their results in the mail in about two to three weeks. GAINESVILLE SCHOOLS Preliminary numbers show about ten percent of Gainesville School System third-graders failed to pass the Reading portion of the test. "We're ecstatic," said Superintendent Dr. Steve Ballowe. "You know, the state was anticipating that 23 percent of students in the state would not exceed (the minimum requirement)." Dr. Ballowe said, in general, students not meeting the minimum standards fall into three categories: students who miss too much school, those that have special needs, and those students who are "brand new" to America. But, overall, he said "we've shown great, great improvements over last year..." Dr. Ballowe added "we're putting a lot of pressure" on these students to attend summer school or get tutoring so that they can take the test again this summer.