BATON ROUGE, La. – Education officials released individual School Performance Scores (SPS) today during a press conference and announced that Louisiana once again improved. However, they caution against placing weight on this year’s results due to significant changes to the state’s Testing and Accountability Program as well as the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

This year there are a number of changes that make comparing results from 2005 to 2006 difficult; the state replaced The Iowa Tests with new iLEAP tests in grades 3,5,6,7 and 9, changed the way school performance scores are calculated, and had more than 20,000 fewer students taking the LEAP/GEE tests.

Louisiana received an overall Growth SPS of 87.6, up 4.9 points from 82.7 in 2005. The state achieved Recognized Academic Growth and continued to reduce its subgroup performance gaps. Additionally, forty percent of the state’s 1,126 schools – or 450 – met or exceeded their growth targets for 2006, and 58.4 percent showed some growth.

“I applaud the schools that made their growth targets, and even those that showed some growth, because I know they had an extremely challenging year,” said State Superintendent of Education Cecil J. Picard. “Thousands of students were displaced across this state, causing major interruptions in instructional time, but despite that obstacle, a majority of schools still improved. That kind of determination is inspiring,” Picard said.

Louisiana ’s School Accountability System calls for continuous improvement in student achievement. Every year, schools receive numerical scores known as School Performance Scores (SPS). For 2006, significant changes have been made in how scores are calculated.

With the elimination of The Iowa Tests, schools were given a 2005 Transition Baseline SPS that includes only LEAP (4^th and 8^th grade), GEE (10^th and 11^th grade) and attendance/dropout data. The 2005 Transition Baseline can be compared to the 2006 Growth SPS, which also includes only LEAP, GEE and attendance/dropout data, to determine an individual school’s growth and whether it is eligible for rewards.

“The iLEAP and The Iowa Tests are on different grading scales, and we cannot judge how well schools grew by comparing the two tests to each other,” said State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Vice President Leslie Jacobs. “The only way for us to make a comparison was to eliminate The Iowa Tests scores from our 2005 results and compare them to this year’s results, absent iLEAP. That means when judging growth this year, some schools, like a K-6 for example, will only have one grade of test results being compared. While that comparison is valid, it is a less reliable way to judge schools than when you can compare performance of all the grades tested,” Jacobs said.

Two hundred twenty-six schools are not included in this year’s results because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Schools that were closed for more than eighteen days or schools where the student population changed by 25 percent or more were allowed to opt out of School Accountability for 2006. All schools in the City of Bogalusa, Cameron, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes, along with 2 schools in Iberia Parish, 5 in St. Tammany Parish and 1 in Pointe Coupee Parish chose this option. All Calcasieu and Vermilion Parish schools that were not permanently closed due to hurricane damage will receive a 2006 report card but are exempt from implementing sanctions for one year. St. Tammany also elected to have 10 schools exempt from sanctions for one year. Other districts with schools receiving a one-year exemption are East Baton Rouge (5), Tensas (2), and Lafourche, St. John, and Terrebonne, with one each. Belle Chasse Academy (a charter school) also chose this option.

Below is a chart indicating the number of schools receiving each Growth Label for 2006.

*Schools with an SPS score of 105 or more are not assigned negative Growth Labels

Exemplary Academic Growth Labels were given to 280 schools for meeting their Growth Targets, growing in all subgroups and not being in School Improvement. An additional 170 schools received Recognized Academic Growth Labels for meeting their Growth Targets regardless of subgroup growth or School Improvement status. Schools with Recognized or Exemplary Growth Labels are eligible for financial rewards as well as flags recognizing their achievement. A total of 20 elementary/middle schools met the criteria for rewards every year since the beginning of accountability rewards in 2001.

“Despite the disruption last year, forty percent of our schools made their growth targets,” said State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Linda Johnson. “I congratulate them, and hope this year we will see many more schools make their growth targets as we return to a more normal school year,” Johnson said.

Schools that fail to grow sufficiently enter Academic Assistance. For 2006, 451 schools are in Academic Assistance, compared to 351 in 2005. Academic Assistance includes six levels of intervention, with remedies such as scholastic audits and District Assistance Teams.

Additionally, schools received a 2006 New Baseline Score that includes attendance/dropout data and all test results, including the LEAP, iLEAP, and GEE. These 2006 New Baseline Scores include not only the new iLEAP tests, but also a new way of calculating School Performance Scores. These changes lowered the scores of most schools, which is why officials view 2006 as a new baseline year.

“We know the inclusion of iLEAP alone dropped most schools’ performance by approximately 3 points,” Jacobs noted. “Since we were already making the iLEAP adjustment, Louisiana also decided to revise its calculation for high school scores to better reflect the goal of improving the state’s graduation rate. This change also lowered high school scores.” Jacobs noted.

Below is a chart indicating the Performance Labels (stars) given to schools statewide using the 2006 New Baseline. Louisiana’s long-term goal is for all schools to be Four Stars or above by 2014. As a state, Louisiana received a New Baseline of 85.1 for 2006, giving it a label of two stars.

Overall, 85 – or 7.5 percent – of Louisiana’s public schools have been deemed Academically Unacceptable for having an SPS below 60, down from 170 schools in 2005, due to the loss of many schools in the New Orleans area. The 85 Academically Unacceptable schools are located in the following districts:

• 25 in East Baton Rouge Parish
• 12 in Caddo Parish
• 4 each in Tangipahoa Parish and City of Monroe School District
• 3 each in Concordia Parish, Rapides Parish, St. Helena Parish and City of Baker School District
• 2 each in Ascension Parish, Calcasieu Parish, East Carroll Parish, Madison Parish, Morehouse Parish, Richland Parish, St. Landry Parish, and St. Mary Parish
• 2 BESE Special Schools
• 1 each in Bienville Parish, Evangeline Parish, Franklin Parish, Iberia Parish, Ouachita Parish, Point Coupee Parish, St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Webster Parish, and West Baton Rouge Parish

Academically Unacceptable schools enter School Improvement 2 and are required to offer choice, in addition to revising their School Improvement Plan and being provided a District Assistance Team. In each consecutive year that an Academically Unacceptable school does not meet its Growth Target, the school moves to a higher level of School Improvement. Each higher level has more stringent consequences for the school and can eventually lead to take-over by the state. ( List of Academically Unacceptable schools and School Improvement definitions)

In addition to the 85 schools labeled Academically Unacceptable, 4 schools are in School Improvement Level 2 (SI 2) for failing the subgroup component, even though they have School Performance Scores above 60. Those schools include Northside High School in Lafayette Parish, Raceland Middle School in Lafourche Parish, East St. John Elementary School in St. John the Baptist Parish and Ellender Memorial High School in Terrebonne Parish. If any of these schools are Title I schools, they must offer “choice” in addition to the sanctions for SI 2.

Based on this year’s results, St. Helena Parish is the only District in Academic Crisis, with all three of its schools labeled Academically Unacceptable.  Orleans Parish, which has met the criteria in years past, transferred of all of its low performing schools into the Recovery School District. Orleans Parish, including the Recovery School District, is not set to re-enter accountability until 2007-08.

Detailed district- and school-level information can be found by clicking on the link below or by logging onto www.louisianaschools.net and clicking on “School Accountability Results.”

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2005-2006 Accountability Results