BATON ROUGE, La.—Today the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) released the scores for Algebra I and English II End-of-Course (EOC) exams administered during the 2008-2009 school year. Of the more than 87,000 tests administered online to students statewide, 67 percent of Algebra I testers and 77 percent of English II testers earned scores of Excellent, Good or Fair -- demonstrating they have attained at least the fundamental skills for each of these courses.

The EOC tests are designed to measure whether students have mastered the knowledge, skills, and abilities at the end of courses. The content of the assessments is based on Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) and Comprehensive Curriculum.

Students scoring at the achievement level of Excellent have demonstrated mastery of course content beyond Good, while a score of Good indicates a student has demonstrated mastery of course content and is well prepared for the next level of coursework in the subject area. At the level of Fair, a student has demonstrated only the fundamental knowledge and skills needed for the next level of coursework in the subject area. A rating of Needs Improvement indicates a student has not demonstrated the fundamental knowledge and skills for the next level of coursework in the subject area.

This is the first year English II tests were officially administered, although students participated in Algebra I EOC tests during the 2007-2008 school year. Comparing student scores on the Algebra I EOC tests from last year to this year, education officials note a slight gain of 3 points, based on the percentage of students earning a score of Excellent, Good or Fair.

“We are encouraged that we are moving in the right direction, as indicated by our students’ scores on the Algebra I End of Course exam,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said. “However, even though the percentage of students at the Needs Improvement level dropped from last year, a summary of last year’s EOC assessment reveals that more than 16,000 of the students who took Algebra I did not grasp the fundamental knowledge to progress to the next course level. That’s a real concern, and reinforces the need for these assessments that allow us to measure our effectiveness at teaching specific courses.”

Further analysis of the combined scores indicates disparities in student performance based on ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Although the percentage of black students who scored at the Excellent, Good and Fair levels increased by three percentage points from the 2007-2008 school year to 2008-2009 school year, nearly half of the black students scored at the Needs Improvement level in Algebra I and just over a third of black students scored at that level in English II. Similarly, 42 percent of poor students scored at the Needs Improvement level in Algebra I, while 31 percent scored at that level in English II.

End-of-Course testing was recommended by the High School Redesign Commission to ensure consistent and rigorous instruction and academic expectations throughout Louisiana high schools. In addition to Algebra I and English II, EOC assessments for four additional subject areas -- Geometry, Biology, English III, and American History -- will be phased in over the next four years, beginning with Geometry in the 2009-2010 school year.

“The implementation of the EOC test schedule is vital in determining whether students have mastered the appropriate content knowledge they need in order to be successful in subsequent classes,” said Keith Guice, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “This is an additional step in strengthening our current accountability system and it also may alert students, parents and educators earlier if students are struggling academically.”

EOC tests are currently low-stakes tests, meaning they do not count towards graduation. However, incoming freshmen in 2010−2011 and beyond must pass three EOC tests in the following categories:  English II or English III, Algebra I or Geometry, and Biology or American History.  Thus, the EOC will replace the Graduation Exit Examination (GEE) for graduation purposes.  

When the EOC program is fully implemented, students with disabilities who have passed two of the three required EOC assessments and have exhausted all opportunities prior to the end of their senior year may request to have the required third EOC test waived by the State Superintendent of Education if LDOE determines the student’s disability significantly impacts his/her ability to pass the EOC exam.

Please refer to the following chart for a summary of statewide results.

Algebra I and English II 2007-08 to 2008-09 Comparison
Percent of students at each Achievement level

For more detailed information, please click on the following links.


2008-2009 EOCT Summary Data for Press Release (DOCX)
2009 Algebra I EOC Test: Percent and Number of Students (state and district data) (XLS)
2009 English II EOC Test: Percent and Number of Students (state and district data) (XLS)

Resources on EOC are at http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/saa/2273.html (End-of-Course Tests)

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