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School system revamps social studies requirements From Staff Reports In an effort to boost some scores on the Georgia High School Graduation Test, the McDuffie County School Board voted to realign the curriculum, requiring that students in the tech prep track as well as the college prep track take social studies in the 10th grade. In the past, the requirement for a 10th grade social studies class only applied to those in the college prep track. Research showed 93 percent of those students passed the social studies part of the GHSGT in 2004 but only 53 percent of tech prep students passed, according to information at the school board planning session March 9. For those with dual seals, 86 percent passed. The data also showed that students scored well on map skills and world studies in the social studies portion of the test, but had trouble with U.S. history after 1877 and political science. Requiring all students to take a full year of government before taking the GHSGT in March of their junior year should help them score better on the test, officials said. It would also lay a foundation for U.S. History which would enable teachers to focus more on the time period after 1877. Web posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005