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After years of less than satisfactory performance grades, extreme dropout rates and confused priorities for teachers that themselves struggle to make the grade, Tri-parish administrators contend the tables are turning for Louisiana schools.
“We’ve had all these different testing methods that have just frustrated people because you are not comparing apples and apples,” Terrebonne Parish School District Superintendent Philip Martin said. “I think once we get on the [ACT] standardized testing with the rest of the nation you might be surprised with how well we really do compared to other states.”
Among 70 school districts, 65.8 percent of Louisiana students are listed as economically disadvantaged. The national average is 45.4 percent. Statewide, instructional expenditures average $5,879 per student, which is $142 less than the national average, and non-instructional expenditures average 18 percent of school district budgets.
The state education budget for fiscal year 2012 is listed at $8.7 billion, but is facing a decrease of $321 million for fiscal year 2013. the Louisiana public school dropout rate is 36 percent, 14 percent more than the national average. All the while, educational outcome is 49th nationally.
Yet, administrators, while admitting their frustrations, remain positive that they have headed in the right direction and gradually are demonstrating improvements.
“We’ve definitely made a lot of strides during the last seven years,” St. Mary Parish School District Assistant Superintendent Keith Thibodeaux said. “It doesn’t mean that we are satisfied with where we are at, but we are moving forward.”
Ten months ago, St. Mary Parish schools marked notable improvements among 23 schools and ranked 26th among all the state’s school districts in terms of overall performance for the academic year that ended in 2011.
St. Mary’s overall grade improved from 82 in 2007 to 96.7 in 2011. At the same time, the school district posted a ranking of 31 in the state as performance scores improved from 94.3 in 2010 to 96.7 in 2011.
“We just take what is given to us and make the best of it,” Thibodaux said. Specifically, the administrator said the school district has formulated a curriculum to enhance grade level performance, conduct six-week assessments, and focused on setting a new foundation with elementary school students that is growing as they advance in the system.
“Now it is just a matter of moving forward and making more strides on our junior high and high school levels,” Thibodeaux said.
In 2011, when the state department of education introduced a letter grade measurement of academic achievement, administrators thought at first it would offer a better light on classroom performance. Instead, less than welcomed results only added to the frustration of teachers and their supervisors.
When 44 percent of all Louisiana schools earned letter grades of D and F, those districts in the Tri-parish region that averaged a C were quick to note that the bulk of their high performers were in lower grade levels and improvements were most notable in middle schools.
In Lafourche Parish two elementary schools secured a letter grade of B, 12 held a C and three earned the grade of D. Middle and junior high schools posted grades with one earning a B, three with C and four performing at a D level. Lafourche high school grades were listed as C’s for both Thibodaux High School and Central Lafourche High School and a B for South Lafourche High School.
“We are doing a rare thing,” Lafourche Parish School District communications specialist Floyd Benoit said. “We are doing after school tutoring for students, summer school for students. We are continuously trying to help all the students whether they are doing terribly or doing good, and we are seeing improvements. A lot of times during the summer we will get an extra 20 percent of the students to pass.”
The Lafourche administrator said that the school district he calls home is fiscally sound and that the state could learn from local districts regarding spending practices. “We are fixing and repairing schools with set amount of money approved by voters and we stay in our means,” he said.
In 2011, St. Mary Parish schools earned an overall grade average of C, with Berwick High School posting the only A among high schools in the Tri-parish region.
Terrebonne Parish also listed a C average, but like St. Mary Parish, investment of increased effort among lower grades saw a payoff when Mulberry Elementary School posted an A+ to be the top performing school in that district.
“There are several issues that are substantial for us,” Terrebonne Parish School District Superintendent Philip Martin said. “We are transitioning into a common core curriculum, which is basically a national curriculum and all states have agreed to follow it.”
To be implemented in phases, the common core curriculum is said to provide a singular and consistent statement for schools and teachers to know exactly what is expected of them. Class-specific programs are generally designed having college-bound goals in mind and with the ACT – formerly used primarily as a measure for scholarship awards – as the ultimate performance calculator.
“I do support the core curriculum,” Martin said. “I think it is the right thing to do, but it is not something we are doing on our own initiative.”
With a common assessment, administrators contend that a more rigorous alignment could prove beneficial in the long run while still requiring a learning curve in terms of implementation.
“A lot of the problem with standardized tests is that [the Louisiana Department of Education] keeps changing the kinds of tests and the requirements,” Benoit said. “Whatever the rule is, we just wish they would stay with the rule instead of always coming back with a new way to judge us. It is almost like they want us to look bad.”
“Other issues I think school systems will be looking at is a significant movement that I support in the way we evaluate and compensate teachers,” the Terrebonne superintendent said.
So-called pay by performance has been a measure met with mixed opinions by teachers. Although none questioned wanted to go on the record as stating their opinions, all admitted that those teachers in ideal situations where students demonstrate marked improvement welcome the method of compensation.
Teachers resistant to pay by performance included one teacher with a high performing class who said a small range of needed improvement would count against him, and another teacher who said she would suffer because her class is filled with students that refuse to do the work.
“We began changing the way we compensate teachers three years ago,” Martin said. “I think there are even more drastic changes in the future. Those teachers that are exceptionally good should be paid more. Paying teachers based on who lives the longest should not be all there is to the formula.”
“I think our problem has been that when the state changes how it wants to hold schools accountable, then we have to make changes in what we are doing,” Thibodeaux said. “It is like in any job. If you know what they are asking you to do you go out there and try to do it to the best of our ability, but if they change what you have been doing and you go in another direction then you have to adapt to that. It is definitely not easy. Teachers in the classroom have to adjust what they are doing to make students successful.”
“We are doing things differently than we have done in the past,” Benoit said. “We’ve got a new teacher induction program that helps us train new teachers we hire.”
The main challenge locally, according to Martin and Thibodeaux is finances. Both of these administrators confirm difficulties involved in establishing budgets that do not hinder classroom offerings.
“When your expenses continue to escalate, but your revenue continues to decline … you can’t keep doing that,” Martin said.
“Most of the problems we have that the state complains about come from the state,” Benoit added. “Tenure laws, retirement laws, pay scale, it all comes from them. If the state is going broke because of their rules they need to realize it is their rules. It is like every rule they put into place is to make us look bad.”
Public education is inclusive by nature and according to regional administrators that inclusiveness comes with weak spots. Yet more rigorous and consistent standards, they contend could help in moving student performance over the curve and into more acceptable grades.
“Under the measurements we have had, Louisiana would always get labeled as 48th or 49th, just ahead or just behind Mississippi,” Martin said. “But how do we know that is [a realistic comparison] with no common assessment without a national equivalent? How do we know unless we are all taking the same tests based on the same curriculum? When we have that, then you can make a fair comparison. When we have that, I think we are going to surprise some people.”
Acadian Elementary Principal Myra Austin greets students Makin and Jared Fitch as they arrive at school.
