As the end of another school year approaches, so does the Georgia Milestones End-of-Course testing.
Thomas County Central High School has implemented a plan to help its students best prepare for their exams. All teachers organize their students for the upcoming tests, but for two weeks the school held special “boot camp” sessions in specific testing areas to refresh students’ memory and ensure they understand the material expected to be on their exams.
The idea started with the school’s math teachers, who were looking for a way to do EOC review with their students, TCCHS assistant principal Karen Jones said. These teachers came up with the boot camp idea, and it was presented to members of the school’s leadership team.
“The leadership team was excited about it and created a plan for all subjects that are required to take the Milestone EOCs,” Jones said. “Milestones affect all freshmen, sophomores, juniors and select seniors. We’re so thankful the math teachers were willing to think outside the box.”
Once the idea became a reality, teachers worked to plan the most productive and informative sessions possible.
“Students were given topics specific to them to review and remediate,” Jones said. “It was not a shotgun approach. All teachers worked really hard to determine gaps that students may have and provide the students scaffolding. The ultimate goal is for our students to score proficient or distinguished on the Milestone EOCs and show growth.”
Testing begins Monday, May 6 and will take approximately two weeks to complete (see box). Make-up testing is set for the day after each regularly scheduled exam.
All testing will be done electronically through Chromebooks. TCCHS is conducting Milestone testing electronically because the Georgia Department of Education has set the expectation that all such tests be administered online, TCCHS Digital Learning Specialist Lindsay Thompson said. Thanks to a 2016 Blended Learning Grant from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, TCCHS has a Chromebook for every student.
“We are prepared to test all students online at TCCHS,” Thompson said. “Testing online is more efficient because the students' answers are sent electronically to be scored rather than collected, packaged and mailed. Online testing also helps to maintain the standardization that is required when administering the Milestones.”
It is imperative all students come to school with their Chromebook operational.
“Students who are taking a Milestone End-of-Course test must fully charge their Chromebooks at home the night before the test,” Thompson said. “The day of the test, students need to remember to bring their fully-charged Chromebooks to school. We need parents and guardians to help our students remember to charge their Chromebooks at night and to bring them to school for testing.”
Other important testing information regards arrival time and materials permitted in testing locations. Students will not be allowed to have either cell phones or smartwatches in any testing environment. These gadgets will be collected before testing and returned once it ends. Any student found with one of these items in a testing area once exams begin will have it collected for parent pick-up.
No students are allowed to enter a testing location once the exam begins. Any student scheduled to take an exam who arrives late on a testing day will be placed in an alternative area and will have to make up the exam at another time.
Assistant principal James Rehberg says the Georgia Milestones are important for individual students, the school and the system as a whole.
“It's a chance for everyone to demonstrate what they've accomplished and learned over the past school year,” he said. “Parents and guardians play an important role as well, ensuring students arrive on time and ready to test. We want everyone to do their absolute best and finish the year out with an outstanding performance on the EOC."