BATON ROUGE, La.—Today, the Louisiana Department of Education posted district and state assessment reports for 4th, 8th, 10th and 11th grade students who participated in summer testing. After spring and summer testing, from 2008 to 2009, the percent of students achieving the level of Basic and above in all grades and subjects tested grew by four percentage points – from 61 percent to 65 percent -- a sizable gain compared to gains made in previous years.
Looking at the combined test results from spring and summer testing, the percentage of 4th and 8th grade students earning promotion grew only slightly – from 81.1 percent in 2008 to 81.4 percent in 2009. While the percentage of 8th graders earning promotion to the next grade level after spring and summer testing improved from 78 percent in 2008 to 79 percent in 2009, the percentage of 4th graders earning promotion to the 5th grade declined from 84 percent in 2008 to 83 percent in 2009.
Also in the release today, LDOE reported scores for 10th and 11th grade students who participated in the state’s Graduation Exit Examination (GEE) during the summer. Students must pass the state test to earn a standard Louisiana diploma. Combined spring and summer test results show from 2008 to 2009, the percentage of 10th grade GEE testers achieving a score of Basic and above increased from 60 to 63 percent in English Language Arts and from 66 to 74 percent in math. From 2008 to 2009, the percent of 11th graders scoring Basic and above grew from 57 to 62 percent in science, but for social studies, the percentage of students hitting the Basic mark remained flat.
“We achieved significant gains this year in almost every grade level and every subject area tested. When we look at the percent of students who scored Basic and above from 2008 to 2009, our 3rd, 6th and 7th graders did especially well – earning combined gains in the four subject areas tested of 17, 25 and 20 percent, respectively. And our 10th graders showed marked gains, as well – with the percent of students scoring Basic and above improving by 3 percent points in English Language Arts and 8 percentage points in math. While we are disappointed that we saw a decline for 4th grade math, we are confident that our focus on literacy and numeracy will support consistent gains in the near future,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said.
State assessments are based on grade-level expectations, which is the content knowledge students are supposed to have learned at the time of testing. Students do not receive a pass or fail grade, but receive an achievement level score. The five achievement levels a student can score on assessments are: Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic and Unsatisfactory.
Students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 participate in the state’s iLEAP, which is not a high stakes assessment. However students in 4th and 8th grade must score Basic in either English or math and Approaching Basic in the other subject on the LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) to advance to the next grade. Fourth-graders have had to meet this requirement since 2004, while eighth-graders had to meet this requirement since 2006.
Students across the state participated in the statewide assessments in early April, and spring test results for all grade levels were released in May. However, summer GEE testers, and 4th and 8th grade students seeking to earn promotion during the summer, received their results the first week of August. Together, more than 6,700 fourth- and eighth-grade students advanced to the next grade level after passing the LEAP test during the summer. In the spring, 71,515 students passed the 4th and 8th grade LEAP tests.
Please see the chart below for a summary of statewide results after spring and summer testing.
Change in "Percent Basic and Above"
After Spring/Summer 2009
and Change in Percent from 2008 |
Grade | Test | ELA | Math | Science | Social Studies |
3 | iLEAP | 66% / +2 | 68% / +5 | 62% / +7 | 67% / +3 |
4 | LEAP | 75% / +1 | 68% / -4 | 65% / +5 | 66% / +4 |
5 | iLEAP | 66% / +1 | 66% / +1 | 62% / +4 | 67% / +1 |
6 | iLEAP | 68% / +7 | 70% / +9 | 61% / +3 | 63% / +6 |
7 | iLEAP | 62% / +1 | 63% / +8 | 59% / +6 | 65% / +5 |
8 | LEAP | 65% / +4 | 64% / +2 | 55% / +2 | 58% / +5 |
9 | iLEAP | 65% / +3 | 64% / +3 | -- | -- |
10 | GEE | 63% / +3 | 74% / +8 | -- | -- |
11 | GEE | -- | -- | 62% / +5 | 62% / 0 |
For more specific data, including district level summaries, please refer to the attached documents.
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Summer 2009 Results
Additional Tables
Summer 2009 LEAP/GEE District Media Report (by number)
Summer 2009 LEAP/GEE District Media Report (by percent)
Summer 2009 LEAP/GEE Promotional Standards
