VALDOSTA —
Valdosta High School and Pinevale Learning Center juniors participated in Georgia’s High School Writing Test in October and made tremendous gains since the 2011-2012 school year, according to recently released results.
“Overall, the percentage of high school students meeting or exceeding standards was 94 percent,” said Scarlet Brown, head of teaching and learning for Valdosta City Schools.
Though 1 percent below the state’s overall passing average which sits at 95 percent, the percentage was still a 7 percent gain over last school year’s numbers for the city school system.
More than 11 percent of students exceeded the state’s standard, a 6 percent boost from last year when only 90 percent of students met GHSWT state standards.
“Students at Pinevale Learning Center showed a 35 percent gain over last year, with a pass rate of 71 percent,” said Brown.
In the 2011-2012 school year, PLC’s pass rate was only 36.4 percent.
System-wide, 15 students with disabilities took the GHSWT with a pass rate of 53 percent, below the state average of 65 percent.
In the 11th grade, students participate in the GHSWT which must be passed in order to earn a regular education high school diploma.
The test, which is administered by the Georgia Department of Education, asks students to produce a response to one on-demand persuasive writing prompt. The writing test requires students to write a composition of no more than two pages on an assigned topic.
The test takes two hours and is administered three times a year so that students have multiple opportunities to take the test before the end of 12th grade.
Aside from being a requirement for graduation, GHSWT results are used to identify students who may need additional instruction in academic content and skills considered essential for a high school diploma.
Local News
Related Photos
-
In the 2011-2012 school year, PLC’s pass rate was only 36.4 percent. Metro Creative Graphics
Discussion
Valdosta High juniors make gains in state writing standards
- Local News
-
-
Woman fights to live after cancer
To be whole again, the desire that sometimes overwhelms chair-bound Mandy Painter, fuels the Realtor each day through walking lessons during physical therapy and it's also what could see her through a cutting-edge program in Boston, where world-class neurologists can reawaken her cerebellum and see the mother of three to her feet again.
-
North Ashley Street closed following accident
A Sport Utility Vehicle traveling north on North Ashley Street drove into a telephone pole Monday morning, resulting in the closure of the road.
-
Gornto extension half complete
The Gornto Road extension project is more than half-way complete, and could be finished ahead of the one-year deadline contractors were given when the project was approved Oct. 11 by the Valdosta City Council.
-
Nashville honors history, musical tradition
There were more than a few Nashville residents and guests from out of town fiddlin’ around Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of the Georgia Humanities Council and Smithsonian New Harmonies exhibit, celebrating roots music from the state and across the Deep South.
-
Locals, out-of-towners come out for food, fun at Peach Festival
The Morven Peach Festival drew a smaller crowd than usual in its 26th year, but planners weren't complaining.
-
Coliform found in drinking water
The cause of a water quality issue is still under investigation by the City of Valdosta Utilities Department after a water sample taken from a line in the area near the intersection of St. Augustine Road and West Hill Avenue tested positive for coliform bacteria.
-
The Big One: Preparing for mid-America earthquake
It’s a bleak scenario. A massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault kills or injures 60,000 people in Tennessee. A quarter of a million people are homeless. The Memphis airport — the country’s biggest air terminal for packages — goes off-line. Major oil and gas pipelines across Tennessee rupture, causing shortages in the Northeast. In Missouri, another 15,000 people are hurt or dead. Cities and towns throughout the central U.S. lose power and water for months. Losses stack up to hundreds of billions of dollars.
-
Preparing South Georgia for a disaster
A pair of specialized urban rescuers shed some of their protective gear for a moment and exchange relieved smiles because, on the roads across the swamps of residential rubble, a caravan of Lowndes citizens returns to a county that, according to Lowndes officials, was able to repair its wounds in the aftermath of a Category 5 storm due to a dynamic package of disaster plans.
-
Valdosta police honor Moody security force
Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress awarded a set of challenge coins Friday to 12 members of Moody Air Force Base’s security forces. The coin ceremony served as a thank-you from the Valdosta Police Department for the base’s operational support in handling bomb threats and helping in community matters.
-
Charges filed in bomb threat made from jail
A pair of inmates received additional charges this week when they reportedly phoned a bomb threat from the Lowndes County Jail to South Georgia Medical Center Tuesday, according to the Valdosta Police Department.
- More Local News Headlines
-
