Savannah-Chatham County reports mixed GMAS results; district outlines literacy-focused response

Superintendent Denise Watts on Friday presented results from the 2025 Georgia Milestones assessment (GMAS), saying the district saw declines in English language arts alongside gains in mathematics and science and announcing a multi-pronged literacy strategy to accelerate student learning.

Watts, identified in the presentation as the superintendent of Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, said literacy “was established as our North Star” and cautioned that “data never lies, but it doesn't tell the whole truth either,” while urging patience for large-scale curriculum changes.

District academic staff framed the results as a mixed picture that mirrors statewide trends. Dr. Laura May, who presented the GMAS numbers, said English language arts content mastery declined across elementary (grades 3–5), middle (6–8) and high school levels; for the elementary band, 30% of students scored at the proficient-and-above level (a 3% decline), and middle grades showed 29% proficient-and-above (a 2% decline). At the high school level, Dr. May reported a 6.4-point drop in American Literature and Composition content mastery and a 7% decline in the percentage at proficient and above.

May reported stronger results in mathematics and science. Elementary math showed gains in students scoring at the proficient and distinguished levels (35% for grades 3–5), and grade 5 science saw a 5 percentage-point increase in students scoring proficient and above (35%), with a 7.6-point gain in content mastery for fifth grade. High school biology content mastery fell 2.9 points to a content-mastery score of 53.7, with 38% at proficient and above.

To supplement GMAS reporting, the district performed a matched-cohort analysis—tracking the same students from one grade to the next. May said the cohort analysis showed year-over-year growth in some grades: gains in English language arts proficiency for grades 4, 5, 7 and 8 and content-mastery gains in mathematics for grades 4, 7 and 8. “Students are definitely learning and gaining that performance ground year over year,” she said.

District leaders attributed some short-term declines to implementation effects from new curriculum and training. Mr. Butler, the district’s chief academic officer, said the 2024–25 school year marked year two of rolling out a new HMH English language arts curriculum and the second year of science-of-reading training for K–5 teachers. He warned of an “implementation dip” that can accompany new curriculum rollout and said the district will “move deeper” in year two to help teachers internalize the materials and align instruction to Georgia’s new K–12 ELA standards.

The district outlined four central strategies to accelerate learning: strengthen core instruction, prioritize closing literacy gaps, provide differentiated support to schools based on data, and adapt where needed to accelerate learning. The chief of schools (name not provided) said the district will narrow instructional focus in priority schools, align people and time to those schools, implement a robust predictive formative-assessment strategy and use a districtwide data-driven instructional protocol to guide observation and feedback. The district also plans intense coaching for principals and teachers in prioritized schools.

Officials highlighted K–2 screening data (Amira) that do not appear in GMAS but show district-level declines in the share of students with significant reading deficiencies; the superintendent said those early- grade data are “an important part of the way that we tell the story.” The district will launch an adolescent literacy strategy in middle schools, including partnerships with the Adolescent Institute and AIMS to train principals, assistant principals and select teachers and to provide structured literacy coursework and interventions for students two or more grade levels behind.

District leaders repeatedly emphasized that the GMAS snapshot does not follow cohorts (GMAS compares grade bands year-to-year) and urged looking at matched-cohort results alongside GMAS percentages. They also said noninstructional factors—student and teacher absences and pandemic-era learning interruptions—are contributing factors the district is reviewing, though officials said it is premature to attribute outcomes to any single cause. No formal board actions or policy votes occurred at the press conference; officials presented results and described next steps for implementation and targeted support.

The district said it will continue to monitor classroom observations and lead indicators and provide actionable, frequent feedback to teachers and school leaders. Officials concluded by inviting media and the community to follow the district’s planned implementation activities and the forthcoming work to support schools identified as priorities.