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BR-Area Schools Do Better on Proficiency Tests

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Schools generally improved throughout the greater Baton Rouge area on spring proficiency tests, but most will have formidable challenges meeting state and federal goals in the coming years.

The Louisiana Department of Education on Tuesday released detailed school-level results for the LEAP 21 and GEE 21 tests given in March to fourth-, eighth-, 10th- and 11th-graders.

In May, the state released preliminary results for the state as a whole and individual districts. East Baton Rouge Parish schools quickly followed up, releasing self-generated school-level scores. Most schools in the area, however, had to wait until Tuesday to find out how they did overall.

Schools with selective admissions policies, such as lab and magnet schools, again performed the best on these tests, which account for roughly 60 percent of a school's performance score. The performance score in turn can mean rewards or penalties from the state, depending on how a school improves or declines over time.

Baton Rouge Magnet High School continued its dominance as the best overall school in the region in its performance on these critical tests, followed closely by LSU Lab School. Pulling up the bottom were alternative schools that serve the least-skilled students.

In this same vein, three new magnet schools in Baton Rouge - Westdale Heights and Forest Heights elementaries, and McKinley Middle School - quickly moved to the upper reaches of schools in the area.

Suburban schools generally did well. Shenandoah Elementary in Baton Rouge was close behind, with 94 and 91 percent of its students meeting state standards in English and math, respectively.

Of two new suburban schools that opened this year in Livingston Parish, North Live Oaks Elementary in Watson performed better, with about three-quarters of its students meeting state standards in English and math. Gray's Creek Elementary in Denham Springs for its part beat the state average in English, but was slightly behind the average in math.

Bucking the trend, however, was Holden High School in Livingston Parish. The rural kindergarten through 12th-grade school posted some of the best numbers of the schools in the region, especially its fourth grade, 94 percent of whom met state standards in English and math.

The tests are officially named the Louisiana Assessment Program for the 21st Century, given in fourth and eighth grades, and the Graduate Exit Exam for the 21st Century, given in 10th and 11th grades.

Both sets of exams assess whether students know what the state requires them to know in the grades and subjects tested. The subjects are English language arts, math, science and social studies. In fourth and eighth grade, only English and math are high stakes. In high school, students need to pass math and English, and pass either science or social studies to graduate.

Louisiana's goal is that all students by 2014 will score "basic" or above, or getting about half the questions right. Currently, between 50 and 65 percent of public school students statewide, depending on the test, are scoring at or above basic.

A student who scores basic is considered on grade level and ready for the next grade. Louisiana, however, allows some students in all grades tested to advance to the next grade even though they are not quite on grade level.

The state is slowly raising its promotion standards. It increased the standard for fourth grade in spring 2004 and will do the same for eighth-graders in spring 2006.

The lowest-performing neighborhood schools this spring were those in urban and rural areas.

Prescott Middle in Baton Rouge was once again among the lowest performers. The school is undergoing an extensive reorganization as a result of its continued problems.

Other neighborhood schools far behind the curve were St. Helena Central Middle in St. Helena Parish, Jackson Middle in East Feliciana Parish and Glen Oaks Middle in Baton Rouge.

Middle schools in the region, like the state as a whole, generally pulled up the rear. Elementary schools overall performed the best, and high schools weren't far behind.

Among Baton Rouge charter schools, J.K. Haynes once again did the best, though Children's Charter School was not far behind. Both are very small, with about 20 students in their fourth-grade classes. One or two students can change their school results substantially.

The Community School for Apprenticeship Learning, a middle school in Baton Rouge, showed substantial improvement compared with last year. With only 31 percent of its students on grade level in English, it still has a long way to go.

The only other local charter school, the East Baton Rouge Arts & Technology School, or EBRATS, was little changed from last year, declining slightly in English and math.

Of the new Baker and Zachary schools, both barely two years old, the differences were stark. Zachary has quickly joined the ranks of best school districts in the state, while in Baker, especially in the fourth grade, a wide majority of students failed to meet state standards in English and math.

Students who failed the tests this spring had a chance to retake them in late June. The results for those retakes are expected to be released when school resumes in mid-August.

How they did

School-level results for the LEAP 21 and GEE 21 tests were released Tuesday for every public school in Louisiana.

THE TESTS: LEAP 21 and GEE 21 are given annually to students in grades four, eight, 10 and 11. They account for 60 percent of a school's performance score. For fourth- and eighth-graders, the tests determine whether students move on to the next grade. For high school students the tests determine whether students graduate.

YOUR SCHOOL: To find out how your school fared, go online and log onto http://www.2theadvocate.com and follow the links from this story.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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