Floyd County high school students continued to perform at high levels on all sections of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.  Test scores released today by the Georgia Department of Education show that high school students at Armuchee High, Coosa High, Model High and Pepperell High maintained high achievement levels on the English language arts and mathematics tests while continuing gains of recent years in science and maintaining improvements in social studies. The results are for 11^th graders who took the graduation tests for the first time this spring.   

Floyd County students continued the trend of surpassing the state average on all four sections of the graduation test for regular program students.  Floyd eleventh-graders continued the trend of gains in science and once again far outdistanced the state as well as school systems in the Floyd County comparison group.  84 percent of test-takers in Floyd County passed the science test on the first try - up two points from 2006. Since 2002, the pass rate on the science test has increased eight points.  Comparable systems to Floyd scored a pass rate of 80 percent in science while the state average is 77 percent.  Model High School had the highest individual school score in science with 86 percent passing the test on the first try.

The pass rates in English for Floyd County regular program students held steady at a very high level: 99 percent passed in English compared to 98 percent state-wide.  Armuchee High School was perfect on the English portion with 100 percent of regular program students passing.  

The system also maintained a high level of performance on the math test: 98 percent passed math compared to 96 percent for the comparison group and 95 percent for the state average.  Armuchee High again attained perfection with 100 percent of regular program students passing the math test.  

In social studies, the pass rate held steady again: 93 percent of Floyd County juniors passed the test compared to 91 percent for the state.  This was the first time the pass rate for social studies has been above 90 percent for the state while Floyd County has remained above the 90 percent level for the last three years.  Three Floyd County high schools performed exceptionally well with Model High posting a pass rate of 98 percent, Armuchee High reaching 97 percent and Pepperell High attaining 95 percent.  Model High had the largest gain in social studies with an increase of 5 percentage points.  Pepperell High has maintained a consistently high score in this area achieving scores above 95 percent for the last three years.  

Dr. Jeff McDaniel, Floyd County's director of school improvement, was pleased with the system's progress since 2002.  "Five year averages conclude that significant increases have occurred in all four content areas, English (+2 percent), math (+3 percent), science (+4 percent), and social studies (+8 percent),"  McDaniel said.  He also related the scores to federal standards.   McDaniel said, "Floyd County is far exceeding the demands and challenges of higher standards of accountability for education passed down by the state and federal governments."

Georgia Law requires that curriculum-based assessments be administered in grade eleven in the content areas of English, math, science and social studies.  Students must pass all four tests to receive a high school diploma.  

View the 2007 GHSGT System-wide Scores