Students in the Cobb County School District tested slightly lower overall in the most recent Iowa Test of Basic Skills from a year ago but those results remain above the national average.
According to figures released Thursday by the CCSD, the composite percentile scores for third, fifth and seventh graders dropped a point at each grade level from the fall of 2011.
Third graders’ average composite scores ranked in the 68th percentile, meaning that Cobb third graders scored equal to or better than 68 percent of all other U.S. third grade students who participated in the test.
Composite scores for Cobb fifth graders ranked in the 65th percentile and the district's seventh graders came in the 62nd percentile.
Sixty‐nine percent of schools in Cobb had average composite scores above the national average (50th percentile) in the third grade. Seventy-two of Cobb schools exceeded the national average in the fifth grade composite, and 71 percent of Cobb middle schools surpassed the median in their seventh grade scores.
“We did experience a dip in composite scores, but the more significant news from these 2012 ITBS results is that our students continue to perform very well in a national comparison," Cobb school superintendent Michael Hinojosa said in a statement.
In October, the ITBS was issued, testing students in reading, language arts and math, as well as science, social studies and sources of information.
The third grade composite scores range from a high of 91 at Mt. Bethel Elementary School in East Cobb to a low of 32 at Fair Oaks Elementary School in Marietta.
The fifth grade results range from a 92, also at Mt. Bethel, to 33 at Riverside Intermediate School in Mableton.
Dodgen Middle School and Dickerson Middle School, both in East Cobb, reported the highest composite seventh-grade scores of 84. Conversely, the composite score at Garrett Middle School in Austell was 36.
The latest test results also reflect how Cobb students are faring in grade equivalency measurements.
The figure before the decimal represents the grade level of the student’s performance, while the digits that follow the decimal represent the month within the grade.
A score of score of 7.2, for example, means the student’s performance was similar to that expected of a seventh grader taking the same test during the second month of school.
The following charts reflect district-wide results, both composite and by subject, by percentile and grade equivalency.
District-wide year-by-year comparisons from 2010, 2011 and 2012, both by percentile and grade equivalency, can be seen on page 6 of the attached PDF.
School-by-school results for 66 elementary schools are on pp. 7-14; for 25 middle schools the results are on pp. 15-16.
Fall 2012 Cobb Schools Iowa Basic Skill Test Percentile Scores
Fall 2012 Cobb Schools Iowa Basic Skill Test Grade Equivalency Scores
Grade ReadingLang Arts
