Baton Rouge, La. - When Louisiana set its 10-year accountability goal at 100 in 1999, policy makers were unsure about how quickly the state could achieve that goal. In fact, the state had not administered a student assessment prior to setting the goal. The guiding force was the need for the state to improve at a pace that would allow it to move up from its ranking of last or near the bottom in most education measures. Today, a decade later, Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) officials announced the 2009 State Performance Score – a 91.0. While it’s short of the 10-year goal of 100, the score represents a significant gain from the score of 69.4 that was achieved the first year, in 1999, as well as a substantial 4.7 gain from the 2008 score of 86.3.

“This progress is a tribute to the administrators, teachers and students in our classrooms and represents the good work of many individuals and organizations over many years,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said. “We are very pleased by these gains – among the highest we’ve seen in the history of accountability. And in comparison to the last several years, where for the most part we saw marginal gains, a gain of nearly 5 points reinforces our efforts and tells us that many superintendents are focusing on the right things and are moving in the right direction.”

School Performance Scores (SPS) are calculated for K-8th grade schools using student test scores (90%) and attendance (10%). Schools with a 7th and 8th grade configuration receive a SPS based on attendance (5%), dropouts (5%) and student test scores (90%). High schools (grade 9-12) receive an SPS based on test scores (70%) and their graduation index (30%).

District Performance Scores and the State’s Performance Score are a roll up of individual student scores on LEAP, iLEAP and GEE, as well as attendance, dropout and graduation outcomes – calculated using the same formula as School Performance Scores – but using only one year of data.

An analysis of indicators reveals that the state made gains in every category, with the exception of the attendance index for K-8 students, which remained steady. The greatest point gain occurred in the Assessment Index score for K-8 students, followed by the Assessment Index for 9-12 students.

“As we seek to raise academic achievement for all students, we are inspired by the news we are sharing with you today,” Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Keith Guice said. “We want to congratulate and credit the teachers, schools, administrators and others who work daily to meet the needs of our children. This announcement represents their success, and ultimately the success of our children.”

Louisiana’s accountability program is designed to measure and foster continuous improvement at the individual and systematic level, and calls for annual student assessments, as well as school, district and state measurements.

From 2008 to 2009, the percentage of students scoring Basic and above increased in 28 of the 30 assessments administered statewide, and in 25 of the 30 assessments, the improvements exceeded the annual historic gains for that grade and subject. In fact, when Louisiana implemented the accountability program in 1999, only 45 percent of students scored Basic or above on statewide assessments, compared to 65 percent in 2009.

Although a 23.4 point gap still exists between black and white students in English and a 28.1 point gap exists between the races in math, the achievement gap between black and white students has narrowed since the state implemented its accountability system in 1999. Over a 10-year period, the performance gap between black and white students narrowed by 10.3 percent in English and 9.8 percent in math. At the same time, from 1999 to 2009, the gap between economically disadvantaged students and their peers also narrowed by 3.5 percent in English and 4.4 percent in math.

In 2009, nearly 80 percent (79%) of the 1.246 schools showed gains in their School Performance Scores (SPS); and almost half, 43 percent, met their growth targets this year, compared to only 25 percent last year. The number of schools achieving the goal of a 100 SPS grew from 301 in 2008 to 361, or 28 percent, in 2009, and the number of schools below the 100 mark dropped from 962 in 2008 to 901, or 71 percent, in 2009. Additionally, the number of Academically Unacceptable Schools (AUS) fell from 90 to 55, or 4.3 percent.

From a historical perspective, the number of schools with a SPS score below 60 in 1999 was 388 or 32.7 percent. Today that number has dwindled to 55 schools, or 4.3 percent. The percentage of schools hitting the mark of a 100 SPS has more than doubled. Collectively, during the first year assessments were administered, 1999 for K-8 schools and 2001 for high schools, the percentage of schools with a SPS of 100 or higher was 11 percent. In 2009, 361, or 28.4 percent of our schools have achieved that goal.

“As we reflect on the last ten years and our intentions around the design of Louisiana’s accountability program, we clearly recognize how extraordinarily effective this program has been at improving schools and raising student achievement,” Pastorek continued. “While we frequently hear criticism, what we don’t talk enough about is how many of our children have been lifted by the implementation of this program. Over the 10-year period, the percentage of students performing at grade level has increased by twenty percentage points; we’re narrowing the achievement gap between our black, white and economically disadvantaged students; ACT scores are up; and more of our students are graduating from high school in four years. Tens of thousands of students have benefitted from these improvements. And we are not going to stop pushing forward and with urgency until all our students are performing at the level of Basic or higher.”

This year, all but three districts improved their scores, compared to 2008 when 13 districts failed to show increases. The highest ranking districts in the state, based on District Performance Scores (DPS) are:

Zachary Community School District (116.8)
West Feliciana Parish (110.9)
St. Tammany Parish (109.6)
Ascension Parish (105.9)
Central Community Schools (105.8)

While the news today indicates real progress, state officials point out that even at the current State Performance Score of 91 -- about 30 percent of our students are still performing below grade level.

“A gain of more than 20 points over the 10-year history is no small feat, and it is important for us to give pause long enough to acknowledge and celebrate the success of dedicated educators across the state,” Pastorek said. “At the same time, we are still leaving too many of our students behind, and we must push forward with urgency. We have a tremendous opportunity – and now is the time. Our children cannot wait.”

Cohort Graduation Rates

Today, the Department also released preliminary 2008 and 2009 cohort graduation rates. Comparing the preliminary 2008 and 2009 Cohort Graduation Rates of 65.9 percent and 66.6 percent, respectively, to the 2007 Cohort Graduation Rate of 65.9 percent, state education leaders say the small gains demonstrate the need to continue focusing on dropout prevention and improving graduation rates through recent and previously existing efforts.

“LDOE and much of the education community have begun to focus on raising graduation rates to 80 percent unofficially over the last three years,” Pastorek said. “But thanks to the leadership of Senate Education Chairman Ben Nevers, we have developed a new sense of energy and urgency to address this issue with legislation adopted this past legislative session. We expect that this legislation will help districts to more effectively focus on this issue and lift the state’s graduation rate.”

The Cohort Graduation Rate is a measure based on the percentage of students who enter the ninth grade and graduate four years later, and is one of several calculations states are required to report as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Unofficially, the Department calculated the state’s 2001 Cohort Graduation Rate, and comparing 2001 rates to 2009 rates, Louisiana has shown notable progress – a gain of 5.3 percentage points.

The report released today includes Cohort Graduation Rates for 63 school districts. In 2008, 52 percent of the school districts achieved rates above the state rate of 65.9 percent, while in 2009, 57 percent of districts are outpacing the state average of 66.6 percent.

The five school districts with the highest cohort graduation rates for 2009 are Zachary Community, 87.8 percent; St. Charles Parish, 84.5 percent; Washington Parish, 84.5 percent; Beauregard Parish, 84.1 percent; and LaSalle Parish, 83.3 percent.

Districts that were heavily impacted by the hurricanes of 2005 and 2006 will not receive graduation cohort results until 2011, based on 2010 data. These districts are Cameron Parish, City of Bogalusa School District, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, The Recovery School District, and St. Bernard Parish. BESE granted a request from Jefferson Parish that its graduation data be included this year.

Education officials emphasize there is no direct correlation between the state’s Cohort Graduation Rate and the state’s dropout rate. The Cohort Rate refers to the percentage of students who graduate on time (in four years). If students do not graduate on time, they are not necessarily counted as dropouts, since they may still be attending school or may have earned a GED or Certificate of Achievement. The state’s annual dropout rate continues to drop and is presently at 5.2 percent (2007-2008/7th-12th grade report).

For information related to today’s report on 2009 School, District and State Performance Scores, as well as 2008 and 2009 Cohort Graduation Rates, please refer to the following links.

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2008-09 State Performance Summary [Report]

2009 SPS, DPS, and Graduation Rates [Complete Report]
2008-09 District Performance Scores (DPS) [Sorted by District and DPS Score]
2008-09 School Performance Scores (SPS) [Sorted by District and SPS Score]
2008-09 Growth Performance Scores [Sorted by District and Score]
2006-08 Graduation Rates [Sorted by District and Rate]
2009 Graduation Rates (Preliminary) [Sorted by District and Rate]
2009 District Subgroup Assessment Indices [Sorted by District]
Fall 2009 Accountability At-a-Glance [PDF]