The Georgia Milestones Assessment System is an ideally reliable program which has proven much efficient and effective on the grounds of comprehensive evaluation of students from grade 3 to high school. This system has so far been employed to a noticeable level in assessing the understanding and content grasp standards of students in English language, Art, Mathematics, Science and Social studies. The Georgia testing program measures the skills and knowledge in the mentioned subject. The standards of the test are adopted from the state in all the subjects.
The test is administered online differently in different subjects. English language, mathematics and Arts are administered as an end-of-grade assessment to students from grades 3 through to 8 (Georgia Department of Education, 2018). Sciences and social studies are administered to students in grade 5 through to 8. When the students get to high school, they take an end of course assessment in all the ten courses as per the state board of education’s designation.
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The online Georgia’s testing program is fun for both teachers and students. The tests are pegged on Georgia’s academic standards as determined by the state’s department of education. The high school students take the end of course test while the lower classes take criterion-referenced competency test (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2016). The system is designed in a way that allows students to work on their skills while the teachers can pull reports of each individual student giving light on the areas that need improvement.
Each student has a well-defined program depending on the milestones. Different students have different levels of learning capabilities. Every student is assigned personalized study plan. The students then work on their plan at their own pace or under the teacher’s guidance. Some tests receive immediate feedback by giving the student the answer to the incorrectly answered questions. Other sessions allow the students to complete before giving the results with the correct answers. In this way, the students get valuable practice on the course work.
In terms of validity of this instrument it is therefore established the how much acceptable and viable the operations and outputs of this systems are realized. One of the first evidence for a test’s validity has been established in a clear identification of the purpose of the test (Georgia Department of Education, 2016). In the case of the Georgia Milestones assessments, by the aid of state legislature, the purpose has been identified to be a measure of how well students have mastered the state’s content standards (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-281).
The Georgia Milestones assessments are designed and mandated by state law to examine how well students acquire the necessary skills and knowledge described in the state’s mandated rigorous content standards in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies in grades three through eight and in selected high school courses. Besides evaluating how well students grasp the skills and knowledge described in the state’s content standards, it also has a way of identifying with necessity the areas where the students need improvement, bringing various stakeholders to the notice of the progress toward achieving academic objective standards of the state, meeting the requirements of the federal accountability, and scaling the overall quality of education in the state of Georgia.
The assessments yield information on academic achievement of the student, class, school, system, and state levels (Georgia Department of Education, 2016). The evidence then for validity of this instrument therefore relies primarily on how well the assessment instrument meets the intended purpose and how the academic reports update the various stakeholders –students, parents, and educators –about the students’ performance.
Reliability is the degree to which test scores for a group of test takers are consistent and stable over time. The end-of-course evaluations are carried out at the completion of the course, regardless of the grade level (Georgia Department of Education, 2016). These evaluation findings act as the ultimate exams for the course, and constitute 20% of the student’s final course grade.
Each school district chooses their preferable a local testing window, based on their local school calendar, from within the state-designated testing window. Middle school students who are enrolled in one or more of these courses are required to take the associated end-of-course (EOC) examination. If enrolled for a mathematics and/or science EOC course, these middle school students are not sit the corresponding content area end-of-grade (EOG) examination.
References
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2016). Five things to know about the new Georgia Milestones Tests. Retrieved on September 4, 2018 from https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/five-things-know-about-the-new-georgia-milestones-tests/iSSLGof8nWbI4NNKHgXqlM/
Georgia Department of Education (2018). Georgia Milestones Assessment System. Retrieved on September 24, 2018 from http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-Assessment-System.aspx
Georgia Department of Education (2016). Validity and Reliability for the 2015-2016 Georgia Milestones Assessment System. Retrieved on September 4, 2018 from https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Documents/Milestones/2015-16_Georgia_Milestones_Validity_and_Reliability_Brief.pdf
