Gwinnett Daily Post

WINDER - The number of high school juniors in Barrow County meeting or exceeding standards on the Georgia High School Writing Test this year increased by one percentage point to 91 percent, school district officials announced Tuesday.

The test, which was administered Sept. 24, assesses writing in four domains: ideas, organization, style and convention. The performance of the 642 juniors who took the exam matched the average results in the state and the Northeast Georgia RESA, which includes Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe and Walton counties and Commerce, Jefferson and Social Circle cities.

Of the 91 percent of students in Barrow County that passed the writing test, 3 percent exceeded the standards.

"While we have some work to do with our junior students, such as move more into the 'exceeds' group, I feel we are moving in the right direction," Barrow County Superintendent Ron Saunders said. "When your results show that more than nine out of 10 of our students that took the test met or exceeded the standards, I believe we can be satisfied that teaching and learning is taking place in our schools."

Gwinnett County Public Schools officials said they are validating the district's scores on the writing test. The scores are expected to be released this week.