Clarke County Schools Don't Make the Grade with End of Course Tests

If the Clarke County School District were a student, it would be grounded for its poor performance on the End of Course Tests taken last spring. Or maybe start seeing a tutor.

The Georgia Department of Education has released those scores for all the school districts in the state. And, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Clarke County made three C's, two B's, a D and an F on the applicable tests. The results for individual schools will be released before students return to school in August.

The tests now represent 20 percent of a student's final grade. In Georgia, school districts overall did better in U.S. history, economics, biology, physical science, ninth-grade literature, American literature and Mathematics I. But not in Clarke County.

Nearby school districts did better than Clarke County did on the tests. This doesn't suprise UGA Demographer Doug Bachtel, who told the Athens Banner Herald that a high poverty rate and a large number of single mothers--both of which Athens has--correlatates with low test scores.