Liberty County School System students showed gains in several areas in the statewide college and career ready performance index, and some retreats on scores.

The numbers were taken from tests administered to students in the 2024–25 school year. The school system’s overall graduation rate for 2025 increased to 91.6, up from 90.4 in 2024, and it topped the state rate of 87.2.

The CCRPI measures content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness and graduation rates. The content mastery measures include the scores from the Georgia Milestones tests students took in the spring.

School system testing coordinator Brandin Duke said the scores reflect a good gain in progress among elementary school students and great progress all the way across for the middle schools.

Overall, elementary school students had a dip in their content mastery scores, falling from 56.7 to 55.9. However, there was an improvement of nearly 8 points — from 48.8 to 56.53 — in science scores.

“They had a very big gain,” Duke told school board members.

English and language arts schools fell from 54.47 in 2024 to 51.03 for 2025, and math scores across the district for elementary school students dipped from 61.32 to 60.35.

The state score for overall content mastery was 68.0 for 2025, up from 67.8 in 2024.

Middle school students made gains in three of four subject areas, improving their scores in math, science and social students. Middle school students’ scores improved by nearly 3 points in math, up from 48.85 to 51.73, by 4.75 points in social studies and up 6.41 points in science. Scores in English/language arts fell from 53.73 to 49.94, a drop of 3.79 points.

Middle school scores overall went up one point, from 49.6 to 50.6. Statewide, content mastery for middle schoolers rose from 64.0 to 65.6.

Scores across the board dropped for the system’s high school students, with the biggest fall coming in math, which went from 47.11 to 38.7. Scores in English/ language arts had the small retreat, from 54.81 to 53.55.

High school content mastery across the state improved one point, rising from 68.2 in 2024 to 69.2 in 2025.

“We see the growth,” school board Chair Verdell Jones said. “We see some slips, too. What we want to do is continue to progress. We’ve got to move the needle because all these numbers have names on them.”

Superintendent Debra Frazier asserted there are steps in place to improve those scores.

“Our teachers are committed and they are working extremely hard to move the needle,” she said.

Progress measures how much growth students have shown in English language arts and math and how well new learners of English are progressing toward proficiency in their new language.

In progress results, the district showed gains in nearly every area. The district matched the state’s overall score of 86.1 at the elementary school level, with a leap of 64 points. The English/language arts progress score rose from 80.07 to 81.61 for Liberty County system elementary students, but fell more than 7 points, from 74.81 to 67.27, in math.

Progress scores at the middle schools experienced gains across the board, and the district posted an overall score of 79.4. The state’s overall score rose from 82.3 to 83.1.

While the state’s overall score in progress among high school students fell from 82.7 to 82.2, the district’s score rose by 1.8 points. At 61.5, the figure still lags behind the state’s mark, and the district’s progress score in math fell by more than 6 points from 58.9 to 52.57.

Readiness scores — which measure students’ ability to move on to the next grade or to the next phase in life for high school seniors — were up and down across the board, especially for the elementary and high school levels. The readiness score for elementary students rose from 77.6 to 78.3, though the numbers for those at or above grade-level reading slipped from 59.68% to 59.66%.

Middle school overall readiness scores nudged upward from 77.6 to 78.1, and middle school’s attendance percentage of 81.4 was the best among the three levels. At or above grade-level reading scores fell from 60.31% to 58.53%. The state overall readiness score was 83.2, up from 82.8 in 2024.

The system’s readiness score for high school fell from 71.1 to 693 but at or above grade-level reading rose by 1.85 points, from 63.88% to 65.73%. Statewide readiness scores for high schoolers improved from 73.3 to 75.4.

Assistant Superintendent for teaching and learning Kellie Zeigler said the schools, at all levels, are putting into place steps to bolster student achievement. Schools look at their data and develop their core content plan based on that data, she said. New teachers are paired with mentors in their subject area and retired teachers also work with students to push them to the next level.

Middle and high school students are getting help and elementary schools have found that they get parent involvement with virtual help after school.