St. Mary schools move to 13th of 59 districts

The Tri-parishes’ public school systems maintained their “two star” rating on District Performance Scores during the 2006-07 school year, according to figures released last week by the state Department of Education.

The state-issued figures are a combination of individual student results on the Louisiana Education Assessment Program exam, the Integrated LEAP and the Graduation Exit Exam, as well as school attendance and dropout rates.

The results are a reflection from the Spring 2007 testing cycle.

The state reported no growth in the Tri-parishes for 2007. However, the St. Mary Parish school system reported a two-point increase its district performance score, from 80.0 to 82.0.

“This remarkable growth places St. Mary Parish 13th out of 59 districts ranked for comparison in 2007, surpassing its ranking of 28th for growth in 2006,” said Kevin Derise, St. Mary Parish school accountability manager. “In terms of school performance labels, St. Mary in the fall had 3 three-star, 13 two-star and 10 one-star schools.”

Despite slight increases in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes’ scores, both systems’ overall ranking fell. Terrebonne Parish went from 82.8 to 82.9 dropping from 27th to 31st in rankings; Lafourche increased from 85.2 to 85.4 moving from 23rd to 25th.

School rankings shifted this year because Vermilion and Calcasieu parishes were added, state officials said. The two parishes were absent from 2005-06 rankings after the state deemed them to be significantly affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The state also factored in the “eighth-grade persistence,” or the number of eighth-graders who move on to high school, into the overall score. The indicator measures a district’s success in keeping eighth-grade students enrolled in school. The indicator is calculated using two years of data officials said.

St. Mary Parish was labeled “adequate” at 98.4, ranking it 19th out of 61 districts. However, Lafourche’s ranking for retaining eighth-graders remains at 99, tying with seven other parishes for fourth-place.

“You’ve got to stay the course and keep improving,” said Floyd Benoit, a spokesman for the Lafourche Parish school district. “The rankings were about what we expected. As long as we keep moving up the rankings, that’s a good thing.”

Terrebonne Parish’s eighth-grade persistence score was on the lower end of the “adequate” label at 98.0. The school ranked 23rd out of 61 districts.

“We can do better with the number of students we have repeating the eighth grade,” said Superintendent Ed Richard. “Every day, the school district is trying to find ways to help our students achieve.”

The final determining factor in the overall scores is the teacher certification index, which gives districts points for placing certified teachers in low performing schools.

St. Mary has a value of 89.7, earning it an “unacceptable” label.

Terrebonne scored high last year for its number of certified teachers, but the district fell from 97.1 to 92.4 percent this year. Richard said with other jobs becoming available, teachers are more likely to leave the district.

“A strong economy is good for the parish, but it hurts individual jobs,” he said.

Since the 2005-06 school year, Lafourche Parish has increased its number of certified teachers from about 95 percent to from 97 percent, school officials said.

Lafourche’s teacher certification index increased from 89 to 94.1 percent.