Tri-parish school district performance scores average with state

Schools in the Tri-parish area continue to perform at or above-par with the state on District Performance Scores (DPS) and District Responsibility Indexes (DRI), according to figures released by the state Department of Education.

State education officials are again cautioning against putting too much weight on the 2005-06 school year’s results because of the significant changes in Louisiana’s Testing and Accountability Program after the 2005 hurricanes.

The DPS is a combination of individual student scores on the LEAP tests, the iLEAP tests and the Graduation Exit Exam, as well as student attendance and dropout rates.

Although the state’s accountability system calls for continuous improvements in student achievement, several factors make comparing the DPS results in recent years difficult. The state replaced the Iowa Test with the new iLEAP test in grades 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9; adjusted the way scores are calculated; and had more than 20,000 fewer students taking the LEAP/GEE tests due to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Annually, school districts are given DPS labels or “Stars,” indicating the system’s level of performance. A total of 59 schools district received scores for the 2005-06. Among the school districts, Lafourche-Terrebonne Parish school districts netted two Stars (80.0-99.9).

The DRI, a second indicator to a school district’s success, has taken overall improvement efforts into consideration in past years. This included summer school retesting improvements, placement of certified teachers, effectiveness in improving high stakes testing performance from year to year, and effectiveness in assisting schools in meeting growth targets.

After re-evaluation the DRI figures, the state’s Accountability Commission suggested the state also report Teacher Certification and Eighth Grade Persistence results. This information is used to provide guidance to districts in how to improve academic achievement.

The first indicator, Eighth Grade Persistence, measures a district’s success in keeping eighth grade students enrolled in school and is aimed at rewarding districts that do not lose students during the difficult transition from middle to high school.

The Eighth Grade Persistence Indicator is calculated using two years of data, tracking the number of eighth grade students enrolled in a district for a given year and for at least one day the following academic year.

Lafourche Parish was among 15 other school districts to rank exceptional (99.2) on the Eighth Grade Persistence Indicator. Terrebonne Parish was among 25 school districts to rank unacceptable (96.8) on the Eighth Grade Persistence Indicator.

The second indicator, the Teacher Certification Indicator, measures whether the core subjects nEnglish, language arts, math, science and social studies — are being taught by certified teachers.

Among 13 other schools in Louisiana, Terrebonne Parish received an exceptional ranking (97.1), and Lafourche Parish had an adequate ranking (95.0).