Students show strong growth on state tests

Bulloch County Schools’ students made substantial academic progress based on results from the 2025–2026 Georgia Milestones assessments. 

“There is much to be celebrated,” said Dr. Torian White, Bulloch County Schools’ new superintendent of schools.

“Improved student performance doesn't happen by accident. I congratulate our teachers, instructional support staff, and school administrators for their strategic collaboration that has led to our positive trend data over time. The results affirm our teachers' daily instructional practices are aligned to state standards and student learning needs. In addition, I commend district instructional support personnel who collaborate with teachers frequently to support their work. As a school system, we will continue to build on these strengths, target improvement areas, and sustain strong positive relationships within each of our classrooms.”

Results released by the Georgia Department of Education on August 6 show that more of the district’s students are mastering math, science, and social studies content by scoring Proficient or Distinguished, the highest of the Georgia Milestones’ four achievement levels. Across all 15 schools, students improved in 33 of 45  End-of-Grade and End-of-Course assessments, 11 of those were double-digit gains of 10 percentage points or higher. 

These results offer an early look at students’ overall academic performance and growth. Georgia Milestones scores are the first in a series of accountability measures that the state will release over the coming weeks leading up to an overall annual report card for school systems, the College & Career Ready Performance Index.

Because the 2025-2026 school year was the first administration of the Georgia Milestones' English Language Arts assessments aligned to the state's new K-12 English Language Arts Standards, the state is still calculating those scores. 

Superintendent White also commended the school district’s Data & Assessment Department, which has broken down and shared a variety of information to help school leaders dig into their data to make informed decisions for their annual school improvement plans.

“This data analysis as well as supplemental tools from the First District Regional Educational Service Agency, helps our leaders drill down, gain insight, and find hidden wins that can be real momentum builders for our faculty and schools,” said Superintendent White, who is meeting individually with schools over the next few weeks to hear more about their school improvement work. 

• Math Proficiency: Math proficiency has grown continuously for the past four years, rising 10.6 percentage points since the 2022–2023 school year. All but two schools increased proficiency in this area.

• Science proficiency: Science proficiency increased at 12 of 15 schools. Fifth-grade students scored particularly well with 47.8% of students scoring proficient or higher, up 8.0 percentage points over last year.  Portal Elementary’s students posted the highest growth with 65.7% scoring proficient or higher in science, an increase of 20.6 points. High school Biology scores saw a notable boost, with 43.9% of students reaching proficiency or higher, up 7.7 percentage points.

• Grades 3 through 8 Success: 44.9% of students in grades 3 to 8 achieved Proficient or Distinguished status, a 4.4 percentage point increase from last year. Bulloch County students in these grades outperformed state averages in Math, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Science.

• High School Progress: For End-Of-Course tests, 42.7% of students in grades 8 to 12 scored proficient or distinguished up 6.3 percentage points; however, students scored slightly lower than their peers statewide. 

• Additional Targeted Support & Improvement Schools: While none of Bulloch County Schools’ schools have been added to the state’s lists for support and improvement since 2024, Stilson Elementary and Langston Chapel Elementary are in year three of their original three-year designation. They were placed on the list due to the lower achievement levels of their students with disabilities. The schools’ scores this year indicate significant progress and improvement in that area.

  • Stilson Elementary’s students increased overall math proficiency from 45.9% to 56.5% and science proficiency increased from 40% to 59.5%, both of which exceeded the district’s and state’s scores. The school’s students with disabilities sub-group increased their math proficiency by 11.5 percentage points over last year.

  • Langston Chapel Elementary’s students increased in overall math proficiency from 14.9% to 28.5 %. They also showed a 4.4 percentage point gain in science proficiency. All of the school’s student groups increased proficiency significantly in math and science, especially students with disabilities. For that student sub-group, students scoring proficient or higher increased 18.5 percentage points in math and 7.5 points in science over last year. 

• Closing Gaps: Across the school district, the English language learners student group improved significantly, narrowing the math achievement gap by 10 percentage points.

For public school districts and their schools, the Georgia Milestones results reflect how students perform overall on  state assessments in core subjects: English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. For Bulloch County Schools’  2025 - 2026 school year, 7,056 students took End-of-Grade tests for grades 3 to 8 and 2,204 students took End-of-Course tests in grades 9 to 12 along with some eighth-graders in advanced courses.

The Georgia Milestones Assessment System meets the federal requirement that states test students in math and English language arts in grades 3 to 8 and once in high school, and in science once per grade band (3-5, 6-9, and 10-12). Georgia Milestones undergoes a rigorous national peer review process to meet federal guidelines and requirements.

Georgia Milestones assesses student learning along four levels of achievement: Beginning Learners, Developing Learners, Proficient Learners, and Distinguished Learners. While Proficient Learners have demonstrated full mastery of the grade-level standards, Developing Learners have demonstrated partial mastery of grade-level standards and are considered in progress toward full proficiency.