The achievement of the elementary schools of the archdiocesan schools is measured each year on standardized test published and administered by Scientific Research Atlanta.

The use of such standardized tests allows the Department of Catholic Education to compare the results of the children studying in parochial schools with children throughout the country.

A very thorough analysis of this year’s testing by Sr. Grace Menton, GNSH, director of curriculum has just been completed. The results were found to be most encouraging.

The students in grades 2-8 were tested in October, in up to six subject areas: social studies, language arts, science, modern math and reading.

First grade students were tested in March, in two areas: math and reading. Since final results were not complete for the first-graders, they were not included in the analysis.

Sister began the analysis by finding the archdiocesan median. The median is the point that divides students taking the tests in half, with half falling above, and half falling below. It is also called the 15th percentile.

Grade level achievement based on the national median, indicates a level of achievement that is to be expected of a student in a certain grade during the month that the test was given.

A third grade child, taking the test in October, should achieve 3.2 in each subject area to indicate satisfactory work. The archdiocesan median was found by using only the results of the 15 elementary schools of the archdiocese that were taking the test.

Two of our schools, Blessed Sacrament in Atlanta, and St. Joseph in Athens did not fall below the archdiocesan median in any subject area in any grade.

Five other schools did not fall below the national median in any subject area in any grade.

Four of the remaining schools went below grade level (national median) in only one instance; two schools went below grade level in only two instances, and only one school went below grade level in only four instances.

Where schools did not fall behind in grade level achievement, the students were almost always only one or two months behind the national median.

The most encouraging results were scored by eighth graders. These are important because they indicate the level of achievement of students who have gone through up to eight years of elementary education in the parochial schools, and is therefore a measure of the total archdiocesan program.

The national median in each area tested is 8.7, because these junior high students take the SRA High School Placement test in March of every year.

The archdiocesan median was: math, 9.7; reading, 10.3; language arts, 10.5; social studies, 10.5; and scientific methods, 10.3. The composite score for the 412 students taking the tests was 10.2.

Some good news each year at this time we are usually announcing the closing of some of our schools. We thought we would have to make the same sad announcement this May, when the Dominican Sisters informed the archdiocese that the circumstances were forcing them to withdraw their sisters from St. Mary’s in Rome, at the end of this academic year. The parishioners of Rome were not discouraged. They sent a brochure to over 80 religious orders, showing why they wanted to keep their school open. They received one affirmative reply. The Daughters of Charity, whose Motherhouse is located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, have promised the parish four sisters for the school year 1971-72. The parish will keep their school open next year with an entire lay faculty. Mrs. Doris H. Ragsdale will be the interim principal.

Some help already here - our last newsletter warned that there was a serious danger that Title II funds would be eliminated from the Nixon administration’s budget this year. Because of legislative opposition a compromise was reached, and 42 1/2 million dollars were allocated to the title of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This is a 15% reduction from last year’s allotment, but the administration has promised to raise the appropriation to 80 million dollars next year.

These funds are especially important to Catholic schools, because of the five titles under ESEA, Title II is the only one where funds are distributed equitably between public and private school students.

This year the money coming to archdiocesan schools could only be distributed to schools having less than 10 books per child in their libraries. This figure is the standard required by the Southern Association for accredited schools. The breakdown of our schools was: Blessed Sacrament, $400; Our Lady of Lourdes, $800; St. Anthony, $800; St. Joseph, Athens, $600; St. John, $800; St. Jude, $300; Our Lady of the Assumption, $300; St. Pius X, $400; Sts. Peter and Paul, $300; St. Mary, Rome, $300; St. Joseph, Marietta, $200; and Immaculate Heart of Mary, $200. An additional $200 was allotted to the central library of the Department of Catholic Education for audiovisual materials.