Tri-parish iLeap scores another mixed bag

The Tri-parish school systems received mixed reviews on the overall student performance on the iLEAP exam released Friday by the Louisiana Department of Education.

The Integrated Louisiana Educational Assessment Program replaced the Iowa Test at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.

According to the state education department, the assessment aligns with Louisiana’s content standards, benchmarks and Grade-Level Expectation in English Language Art, mathematics, science and social studies and was developed to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.

The exam is geared toward monitoring the progress of third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth grade students.

State results indicate that Lafourche, Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes overall student performances still need improving in key areas like English and mathematics.

“The results are mixed, but one clear pattern stands out,” said State Superintendent of Education Paul G. Pastorek. “Students in the fifth and ninth grades scored lower in almost every content are than students last year, and that is most certainly die to the BESE waiver that allowed districts to suspend the high-stakes portion of the LEAP test directly after the hurricanes.”

The waiver allowed many of the fourth and eighth graders to progress to the next grade level, when many of them would not have met the promotional standards in a normal school year, according to the state department of education.

Fewer Lafourche third and fifth grade students scored at or above “Approaching Basic” in every test category compared to 2006 scores. The sixth grade scores remained the same except for a 3 percent drop in the number of students that passed the English portion of the exam.

Lafourche Parish seventh grade students improved in all areas of the exam compared to the previous year

Across the board, Terrebonne Parish third grade scores remained the same as last year. However, Terrebonne’s fifth grade students failed to improve over 2006 scores.

Terrebonne Parish’s sixth grade had more students score at or above “Approaching Basic” level than in 2006. And, the seventh grade students showed improvements in all areas of the exam except English/Language Arts.

In St. Mary Parish, 20 percent of the public system’s third graders failed the English portion of the exam, compared to 17 percent the pervious year.

Sixth graders in St. Mary also saw a slight increase in the number of students that failed the English and social studies portions of the test compared to the previous year.

The results were equally mixed for seventh graders in St. Mary.

St. Mary’s sixth grade students had an increasing number of students fail the English and social studies portion of the exam compared to last year’s results. Seventh grade students performed as well or better on the iLEAP as the previous year, increasing the number of students at or above “Approaching Basic” in science and social studies.

Ninth grade students are administered only the English and math portions of the exam. Lafourche and Terrebonne’s ninth graders failed to improve in either category compared to the 2006 results. However, St. Mary Parish ninth graders showed an overall improvement in both portions this year.

Pastorek said parents will receive a norm-reference detailing how their child compared on iLEAP to the national norm group. The norm-referenced reports are similar to those used for the Iowa Tests over the past few years, with a score of 50 representing the national average.

BESE President Linda Johnson said in a release, “Parent can use the scores their children have earned on the iLEAP to get a clear indication on how well their children might perform on the high-stakes LEAP and GEE test.”