MOULTRIE — High school writing test scores took a dip this year with a marked drop in Hispanic students’ performance.

Secondary Curriculum Director Jennifer Funderburk, who recently presented test scores to the school board, said she and Colquitt County High School (CCHS) Principal Bob Jones are analyzing scores over several years to determine how the school system can work to move more students to upper test score levels.

In the writing portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test, 92 percent of CCHS students passed. That’s down from a five-year high of 95 percent last year for regular program first-time takers. CCHS scores came in four points below the state and a point below Southwest Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) scores. Southwest Georgia RESA includes Colquitt, Baker, Calhoun, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas and Worth county school systems as well as city systems in Pelham and Thomasville.

Colquitt County’s Hispanic students showed the greatest decline in scores from last year to this. In 2004, 80 percent of first-time test takers passed, outperforming black test takers. In 2005, only 55 percent of Hispanics passed, falling behind blacks whose passing rate remained fairly level at 73 percent. Whites also were consistent at 95 percent passing in both comparison years.

Georgia’s scores, on the other hand, showed a significant improvement in Hispanic students’ performance. Last year, 65 percent in that subgroup passed the writing test. This year, that rate rose to 78 percent. The numbers suggest that the weak spot is in the migrant population. Last year, 73 percent of migrant students attending CCHS passed the test, while this year, only 48 percent did.

Last year when CCHS writing scores leaped seven points, Superintendent Leonard McCoy credited the system’s adoption of the Georgia’s Choice program and its Writer’s Workshop component with the high school’s remarkable achievement. Educators are puzzled, especially faced with the numbers. In school year 2002-03, 76 percent of eighth graders (most of these students are this year’s first-time takers) scored on target in writing, while 7 percent fell below expectations and 17 percent exceeded. One year prior, only 57 percent of students performed on target, 30 percent scored below expectations and 13 percent exceeded expectations.