Baton Rouge, La. – While the 2009 edition of Quality Counts released today reveals Louisiana’s education system has several strong components, in general the report indicates gains were minimal. Louisiana’s 2009 overall grade was a C, which is on mark with the national grade and the state’s 2008 grade.

The annual report by Quality Counts is a state-by-state summary of public education and its governing policies. The overall grade is made up of scores from six main indices: chance for success; transitions and alignment; school finance; K-12 achievement; standards, assessments and accountability; and the teaching profession.

For 2009, Louisiana once again finished 47th in its ranking of student achievement and moved up from a 2008 ranking of 50th to 48th in the category designed to measure a child’s chance for success, including parental education and income. However, the state ranks number two in how it measures education progress and number six in its programs to improve teacher quality.

“We continue to rank high in our efforts to gauge and support better outcomes, and we are seeing measurable success in student achievement in some areas, especially when we look at our progress in narrowing the achievement gap and improving teacher quality,” said State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek. “But admittedly it’s not enough, and we are going to do better through efforts like our literacy and numeracy initiative and increased investments in career and technical education.”

This year’s report also focuses on English Language Learners (ELL) and shows that Louisiana’s efforts to eliminate achievement gaps between learners are paying off. The state’s ELL students outperformed their peers throughout Louisiana and the nation in math proficiency and topped the national average in reading proficiency.

English Language Learners are students for whom English is not their first or primary language. According to Quality Counts, these students make up less than 5 percent of the enrollment in most Louisiana school districts with the exception being schools in the New Orleans area where the enrollment is estimated to be between 6 and 10 percent.

This small but growing number of ELL students is performing at a level of math and reading proficiency not seen in many other states. In Louisiana, 60.8 percent of ELL students in 4th and 8th grade are proficient in mathematics. This beats the state average for all learners of 60.1 percent and significantly tops the national average of 43.8 percent.

Also in Louisiana, 60.8 percent of ELL students in 4th and 8th grade are proficient in reading. This is still below the state average of 64.2 percent for all learners but is above the national average of 38.2 percent.

Other findings in the report include:

• In overall rank, Louisiana dropped from 21st last year to 35th this year. The decline in ranking primarily stems from a significant decrease in the score for school finance.
• The state received a D this year in school finance, compared to a C+ last year and went down in rank from 25th last year to 49th this year. According to Quality Counts, new, more up-to-date indices were used in the school finance calculations which may have contributed to the decline in Louisiana’s rank.
• In the chance for success index, which calculates the odds of success for a child in 13 key benchmarks from birth to adulthood, Louisiana’s grade remained the same, D+, but the state did improve its ranking from 50th last year to 48th this year. Scores improved in the early foundations and adult outcomes sections of the chance for success indicator.
• In the third and final area evaluated this year, Louisiana received a grade of C in transitions and alignment, which is in-line with the national average grade in this category. The state dropped in rank from 19th in 2007 to 22nd in 2008, but did receive credit for improving college readiness and preparation, and alignment of coursework.

Education leaders said the state will work diligently to make the necessary improvements to perform at the highest level in every index because ultimately the measurements correlate to how well Louisiana is meeting the needs of children.

“As a longtime educator, I know our overall grade of ‘C’ means average, and we aspire to be more than that – we aspire to have high-quality schools with the most-qualified teachers and the best students – not just in the nation but in the world,” said Deputy State Superintendent of Education Ollie Tyler. “We should expect more from ourselves and our students. I believe the initiatives we have in place will help us transition from this score of average to a score of exemplary.”

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Keith Guice said the state should now use the findings and results to inspire progress in its education reforms.

“This report highlights the areas of promise and the areas of challenge that we face in moving our education system forward in this state. It is now our responsibility to take the information and make changes that will improve our schools and advance the academic achievement of our students,” Guice said.

The entire Quality Counts report can be found on Education Week’s Web site, www.edweek.org.

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