Parish school scores show some improvement

The Louisiana Department of Education released their annual District Performance Scores and School Performance Scores earlier this month, and each of the Tri-parish school districts ranked in the top 35 schools in the state.

The Lafourche Parish School District scored highest in the Tri-parish area with a 94.4 District Performance Score (DPS), one-tenth of a point higher than St. Mary and 2.1 points higher than Terrebonne. The districts rank 28th, 29th and 35th in the state.

DPS is calculated using standardized assessment scores, graduation cohort index, student attendance and dropout rates. Graduation cohort index is the percentage of students who graduate with their class, four years after entering ninth grade.

Lafourche Parish saw their DPS rise 2.7 points from 2009 to 2010. St. Mary and Terrebonne saw growth rates of 2.6 and 2.1, respectively.

“I won’t be satisfied until our DPS is greater than 100, which means our average has to be over 100,” Terrebonne Parish School Superintendent Philip Martin said. “I’ve set that as a goal for our district and our parish. Satisfied means we’re happy and we’re good. I’m not there yet.”

St. Mary Parish Superintendent Donald Aguillard was not available for comment, but the district did send a press release in regards to their improving scores.

“I congratulate and express my sincere gratitude to our dedicated students, classroom teachers, school administrators, instructional staff, and support personnel for their unrelenting commitment toward increasingly higher levels of achievement,” Aguillard said in the release.

As far as the School Performance Scores (SPS) indicate, Bayou Boeuf Elementary School is the top school in the Tri-parish area. It is also the only 4-star school, which is determined based on SPS.

“It’s a great sense of accomplishment because it’s a team effort,” Bayou Boeuf Elementary principal Kenn Robichaux said. “Besides the quality of instruction from the faculty and staff, the parental support and involvement is what sets us apart. When the school and the community become one, everything is within our reach.”

SPS are calculated for K-6th grade schools using test scores (90 percent) and attendance (10 percent). Schools with a 7th and 8th grade configuration receive an SPS based on attendance and dropouts (5 percent each) and student test scores (90 percent). High schools receive an SPS based on test scores (70 percent) and their graduation index (30 percent).

The schools are also judged on their ability to meet their SPS growth target, which Martin described as “a fairly aggressive, defined and specified amount of academic growth for a school.”

“We’ve gone from six schools to 12 schools to 17 schools [meeting the growth target] in the last three years, so we’re pleased with the growth, but we’ve only scratched the surface of where we should be and where we will be,” Martin said. “It’s a journey and we’re not at the destination, but we’re moving rapidly towards that destination.”

The 17 schools in the TPSD that met their growth target are the highest in the Tri-parish area. Both St. Mary (45.5 percent) and Lafourche (35.7 percent) had 10 schools meet their growth target.

Each employee at the 17 TPSD schools that met their growth target will receive a performance pay bonus.

“It is a performance pay, for schools – every employee in those schools that meet their growth target,” Martin said. “We went from six to 12 to 17. That’s almost tripled reaching their growth target in three years. That’s a pretty substantial increase.

” Is it strictly because of performance pay? Of course not. Do I think that’s a player in the equation? Yes, I do. We have 17 schools, and performance pay I do really believe is the trend for the future,” he added.

Oaklawn Junior High School in Terrebonne is the lowest scoring school in the Tri-parishes, and it is one of five schools listed as Academic Watch (Raceland Middle in Lafourche, Franklin Junior and Senior High Schools in St. Mary, and Ellender Memorial High School in Terrebonne).

“We’re meeting with the principals of [Ellender High and Oaklawn Junior High] schools to discuss issues and strategies to increase student achievement.

“We’re actually doing several initiatives [to raise achievement across the district], and they’re all related to curriculum and instruction issues,” Martin said. “It would be a whole litany for me to go down, and they’re not the same at every school, quite honestly.”

Academic Watch is the second lowest of the seven levels, with Academically Unacceptable serving as the bottom rung.

“Academic Watch can be rephrased by saying, ‘Be careful, take a look,'” Martin said. “Academic Watch describes just watch and make sure they’re doing what needs to happen, and the schools are very much aware of that.”

Lafourche Parish Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews was unavailable for comment.