While an individual school may do well in one area, such as fifth grade reading, it may falter in other areas. Even within one discipline, such as reading, the results can vary widely from grade to grade. For example, two years ago nearly 43 percent of third graders at South Jackson Elementary School fell into the lowest 25 percent of ITBS reading scores, a result nearly twice as bad as the overall state average for those at the bottom. But last year, SJES third graders did markedly better, with only 15.7 percent at the bottom in reading, a result that was over six points better than the state average. Such a dramatic turnaround in one year is one indication that ITBS results may have less to do with the quality of the school's instruction and more to say about the particular makeup of an individual class.
Some classes just seem to perform better than others.
Despite these drawbacks, the test has become a key indicator for measuring how well a school is doing. The Georgia Department of Education compiles state ITBS results in grades three, five and eight as one measure of a school's performance. Various independent think tanks also rely heavily on the results as the main component of how they evaluate the performance of individual schools. But statewide school rankings from the ITBS are tricky. It was a great result, but there is a caveat - that was a system evaluation comparing Jefferson's one elementary school to other school systems, many of which have a multitude of elementary schools.