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ALBANY, GA -- The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement released results of a spring 2010 erasure analysis on CRCT tests. According to the results, fewer classrooms were flagged for high erasure marks, including Dougherty County.

The analysis scans answer documents to identify the number of erasures made per classroom and flagging those where the number of wrong-to-right changes was significantly higher than the state average.

In 2010, only two Dougherty County Schools were flagged as a minimal concern (Morningside Elementary and Radium Springs Middle) for cheating on CRCT tests and only one was a moderate concern (Northside Elementary).

“It shows Dougherty County with far less erasures than in 2009,” says DCSS Spokesman R.D. Harter.

There are four categories schools can be placed in based on classrooms with erasure marks: Clear of concern (0-5% flagged), minimal concern (6-10% flagged), moderate concern (11-24% flagged) and severe concern (25% or more flagged).

While the school system improved on erasure marks, R.D. Harter says he’s concerned an anti-erasure attitude will cause confusion in classrooms.

“I'm worried that these erasure audits will hurt the integrity of the testing process by causing for students to be apprehensive about if they're allowed to change a wrong answer to a right answer if they discover that occurred,” says Harter.

While CRCT numbers continue to run through the minds of the school system, there are other numbers that were brought to the attention teachers and administrators on Thursday as well.

“We've identified 47 homeless students this school year,” says Marion Stevens, DCSS Lead Social Worker and Homeless Liaison.

At a Leadership Albany workshop, community members and educators discussed numerous topics, including homeless students and those living in poverty.

“When they're living in a poverty situation, when they get to school they have so much baggage education is the last thing that they're focusing on,” says Stevens.

She says some student come to school hungry, without the proper school supplies and “some of our kids are responsible for their younger siblings,” she says.

“The statistics are very real, some of the students we serve come to school not ready to learn,” says Susan Haynes with Leadership Albany.

They say not only food but education nurtures students, and feeding students that education is something Leadership Albany participants say the community needs to help with.

“The children that are in school right now, they're our future leaders. If we are depending on them to do a better job of supporting our government and country and us in general, we need to be a part of their lives,” says Pat Barnett with Leadership Albany.

At Thursday’s Leadership Albany workshop, participants traveled from school to school. A majority of the members agreed: The technology in the schools is impressive.