Districts Rush to Calculate Summer School Crowds

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Georgia school districts are quickly crunching numbers to figure out how many 8th graders will attend remedial summer courses after failing the math portion of the CRCT. And there isn't much time. Several metro Atlanta districts start their summer programs in less than two weeks.

The City of Atlanta Public Schools, and DeKalb County Public Schools are slated to begin summer programs on June 2nd. They're hurrying to figure out how many teachers they'll need. They also want to know how much the costs will cost, because they'll have more students than usual.

This year, twice as many eighth graders failed the math portion of the Criterion-Reference Competency Tests as last year, the result of a new test for a new curriculum. Without passing that part of the test, or successfully appealing their cases to school officials, those students will be held back.

The state has very little money that the districts can use for summer programs. Georgia's Department of Education has asked districts to track the cost of their programs so it may ask state legislators for funds later on.