HANCOCK COUNTY, Ga. — Students in Hancock County are getting instruction in a new way to prepare for the Georgia Milestones Assessment. According to Hancock County School Superintendent Anton Anthony, waiting until January to prepare students is not an option anymore.
Anthony transitioned to being superintendent in July after being principal at the county's elementary school. He said with his background and leadership, he knows how to help the district.
"We have to be proactive,” he said. “And so my goal this year is to really have teachers aligned so it's one band, one sound. One curriculum -- ELA, literacy and numeracy is our focus."
This year's scores showed a little over 80% of the county's third and fourth grade students placed below grade-level in reading. Anthony said to bring scores up, students are using reading and writing in all subjects.
He also said they've reformatted the school schedule. Now, students spend over an hour a day in math and English to prep for testing. The school will also rely more on quarterly diagnostic testing results to get students ready for the big test at the end of the school year.
"We are instructionally dying so I said, 'Let's go,'” Anthony said. “We have to be in an emergency like type of situation here, so I think all of our teachers are bought in, but it starts with the leader."
One of those teachers ready to help is Kristen Mapp. She teaches math to third through fifth graders. But with math Milestones Assessment results delayed, she said she is being strategic with her teaching.
"I got my mind set to where ‘This is what I think they might need, this might help.’ If it matches up with the data, that's what I'm going to use," Mapp said.
She said she believes students' learning is still recovering from pandemic setbacks.
"COVID was rough for everybody,” Mapp said. “But I think we're consistently being stable and moving up. Even if it's 1% at a time, we're moving up."
Getting teachers the learning what they need is essential too. Superintendent Anthony said Hancock teachers are paired up to share instructional strategies every day.
RELATED: 'We have outpaced the state' | Central Georgia school leaders react to milestone test scores