Marietta Students Outpace State 2012 Fifth-Grade Writing Assessment

 fifth-graders meeting or exceeding standards outpaced state percentages on the 2012 Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment, for the fifth consecutive year. 

Of the 659 students tested, 84 percent met or exceeded the standard. Marietta City students outscored their state peers (80) by a four-point margin and were on par with their Metro peers (84).

“We continue to reap the results of our work in the areas of writing at the elementary level as demonstrated by the percentage of students that are meeting and exceeding standards and surpass the state year to year,” said Emily Lembeck, MCS Superintendent. “Our students in a number of demographic subgroups also continue to outpace their peers statewide, and our outstanding educators continue to prepare our students for academic success.”            

MCS fifth-graders in eight demographic subgroups (All Students, Regular Program, Special Education, Female, Male, Black, Hispanic and White populations) met or exceeded state levels on the spring 2012 Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment. 

Of the eight subgroups, Regular Program (+4), Special Education (+4), Female (+2), Male (+6), Black (+9), Hispanic (+5) and White (+1) students outpaced the state by meeting or exceeding standards.

Test scores on the 2012 Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment range from 100 to a maximum of 350. A score ranging from 100 to 199 “does not meet” standards, 200 to 249 “meets” and 250 to 350 “exceeds.” 

Marietta City students scored an average of 214, one point above the state average (213) and four points below the metro average (218).

The Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment is a test of narrative, informational or persuasive writing. The scoring system is analytic. Analytic scoring means that more than one feature or domain of a paper is evaluated. Each domain itself is scored holistically.

The four domains of effective writing are Ideas, Organization, Style and Conventions. Marietta students scored above the state on two of the four domains tested: Organization (3.1) and Conventions (2.9), and were on par on Ideas (2.9) and Style (3.0) domains.