South Cobb Area Students Meet & Exceed State Writing Test Standards

Eleventh-grade students at South Cobb and Pebblebrook high schools met or exceeded standards on the 2011 Georgia High School Writing Test, which gauges writing skills considered essential for a high school diploma.

Students are required to earn a passing score on the GHWT in order to graduate from high school.

At Pebblebrook, which includes the Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts magnet program, 92 percent of students met standards and 3 percent exceeded them. At South Cobb High, 87 percent of students met standards and 4 percent exceeded them. The average score on the test at both schools was slightly below the district average.

Cobb students' average scale score of 230 improves upon 2010 results and remains ahead of averages for the state (224) and metro Atlanta area (226). The scale used to measure achievement ranges from 100 to 350, with a score of 200 considered "meets expectations," and 250 considered "exceeds expectations." Fourteen percent of Cobb students exceeded expectations on the test, an increase of 4 percent over 2010 scores.

However, overall the amount of students passing the test declined from 98 percent in 2010 to 97 percent this year. Statewide, regular education students who passed the test decreased by 2 percent from last year.

Additionally, the amount of English Language Learners who passed the writing test increased from 83 percent in 2010 to 86 percent. Statewide, the passing rate for ELLs decreased by 3 percent.

The two-hour test was administered in late September.