East Cobb Students Ace Writing Test

Cobb County School District 11th grade students taking the Georgia High School Writing Test for the first time slightly improved 2011 average scores.

On Tuesday, the district released results from September's test. All 16 traditional high schools had passing rates of at least 90 percent on the test, which measures students' writing skills across the curriculum.

Cobb's average scale score of 231 is one point higher than last year. Since 2009, the scale score has increased from 224 to 231 and the percentage passing from 94 percent to 98 percent.

The Cobb average is higher than the metro Atlanta average of 229 and 226 for students across Georgia.

“The state writing test is an important gauge of our students’ communications skills and lets our teachers know which students may need additional support prior to graduation,” said Cobb School Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa.

“I’m proud to see that our District-wide efforts to incorporate writing in all academic areas, including math and science, are resulting in improved performance and a higher passing rate."

East Cobb students posted some of the best scores in in the district, with 100 percent of students at Pope High School and Lassiter High School, 99 percent of students at Walton High School and 98 percent of students at Wheeler High School meeting or exceeding the test standards.

Pope had the highest scale score in Cobb at 243, while Walton's score was 242 and Lassiter's was 240.

A total of 6,678 high school juniors across the county were first-time takers of the 100-minute test, during which they wrote a two-page "persuasive paper on an assigned topic."

The scores are based on Georgia Performance Standards domains of ideas, organization, style, and convention.

The test is given three times a year.

What follows is a summary of the school-by-school results. More complete numbers, and a more detailed explanation of the test, is available on the attached PDF.

# Tested

% Meet

or Exceed

Standards