Greene County Milestone Testing Results Released

The Greene County School System’s 2022 Georgia Milestones test results show that at
the elementary level, the system has closed the COVID gap and made significant improvements in addition.
This is better than Georgia’s statewide results, which improved from the previous year but remain below the
last pre-COVID year of 2019. The overall percentage of elementary students who scored a Level 3,
“Proficient, or a level 4, “Distinguished,” on the Milestones increased by 9 points from the pre-COVID year
of 2019 to 2022.

These improvements are particularly evident in Greene County Primary School’s 3 rd grade math
scores, which are in the top third in the state and saw a 19-point increase in the percentage of students
scoring a level 3 or 4, from 41% in 2019 to 60% in 2022, far exceeding the state average of 43%. Similarly,
the number of 5 th graders who scored a level 3 or 4 on the English Language Arts portion of the Milestones
scores more than doubled. Both of these cases illustrate how the elementary grades have made significant
gains from 2019 to 2022.

While the district’s middle school and high school scores show improvement from 2021 in closing
the COVID gap, the 2022 scores came in at just under the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, with the averaged
scores at Carson Middle School level coming in 5 points below 2019 levels and Greene County High
School’s averaged scores just 2 points below its 2019 scores. Their performance was similar to statewide
results.

Dr. Chris Houston, GCSS Superintendent, stated, “Our scores remain below where we want them to
be, however, we are more than pleased with the elementary results, which show substantial progress toward
our key strategic plan objectives to achieve literacy mastery by the 3 rd grade and math by the 5 th . Research
has shown their mastery is critical to downstream success. The elementary performance should improve with
the proposed new elementary school that achieves the seamless Pre-k—5 structure that other outstanding
school systems employ. We are confident of significant improvement in the middle and high school results
as these elementary students continue to matriculate with their improved basic skills.”
The GCSS recovery is progressing at a faster pace than the state of Georgia, which has not yet

recovered to pre-pandemic achievement levels. The Georgia Department of Education and the federal
government anticipated a two-year process of recovery and funded efforts to this end under the CARES Act,
but the GCSS should accomplish this in less than the expected time.
“We are focused on providing every student what they need to be successful,” Dr. Houston said.
“These improvements show that our teachers know their students, meet them where they are, and work with
them and their parents to get them where they need to be.”