Posted on 11/08/2002 12:36:16 PM PST by zingzang
By WILL SENTELL wsentell@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau
Leslie Jacobs of New Orleans, a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and a chief architect of the state's new testing program, called the high school results distressing.
"I don't believe they have really embraced accountability," Jacobs said of those who run schools in grades nine through 12.
"We have a really long way to go," she said.
State Superintendent of Education Cecil J. Picard echoed Jacobs' concerns.
"We have some real concerns that if some schools don't buckle down, they will fall short of their goals," Picard said.
The results are included in state report cards, designed to spur improvements in student achievement. Scores are based on a variety of tests and dropout and attendance rates.
The state's goal is for all public schools to reach the national average, represented by the number 100 on the report cards, by 2011. Schools that meet state improvement targets will be eligible for financial rewards. Those that fall short face a variety of sanctions.
Related story: Six EBR schools on state 'watch list' Figures released Thursday represent the midway point in a two-year cycle.
The high school average was 75.7, down from 75.9 last year. The drop means average high school scores are unlikely to reach their state growth target next year, Jacobs said.
On the plus side, 51 of the state's 323 high schools have already meet the 10-year goal, up from 43 last year. Among elementary and middle schools, 214 have already met their 10-year goals, up from 180 last year.
The state's highest scoring school is Benjamin Franklin Senior High School in New Orleans. The top-scoring elementary school is South Highlands Elementary Magnet School in Shreveport. Baton Rouge Magnet High School scored third statewide.
In other key results announced Thursday:
· The state's average score for elementary and middle schools was 82.1, up from 79.9 last year. Reaching the two-year improvement target next year is doable for those schools, officials said.
· 67 percent of elementary and middle schools improved their scores over last year, and 59 percent of high schools did so.
· 105 of the state's elementary, middle and high schools -- 8 percent -- scored so low that they are now on a special state "watch list."
If those schools fail to meet their state improvement targets next year, they will be labeled academically unacceptable, face state intervention and have to give students the option of moving to better schools.
Six of the state's most troubled elementary, middle and high schools are in East Baton Rouge Parish. Orleans Parish accounts for 64 of the state's 105 most troubled schools.
Yet top state educators made it clear that high schools are their biggest concern.
Jacobs said that, while 70 percent of 10th-graders passed math on the high school graduate exit exam, the rate should have been around 85 percent.
That low passage rate is especially puzzling because the same students had to pass a key math exam two years earlier to pass the eighth grade and go on to high school, she said.
"Our high schools are going to have to start doing something differently," Jacobs told reporters. She said elementary and middle school improvements stem in part from new state reading and pre-kindergarten programs.
High school faculties are more independent than elementary and middle schools, officials said, and more resistant to change.
"High schools are harder to reform," Jacobs said.
In other areas, the state's first-ever breakdown on how white students, black students, students from poor families and special education students fared showed huge achievement gaps, which was expected.
Results were broken down that way to comply with sweeping new federal laws designed to ensure that scores for all students improve.
For instance, while 87 percent of fourth-graders passed the math portion of the state's high-stakes test 96 percent of white students passed, 82 percent of students from poor families and 78 percent of black students passed.
Public schools will soon face sanctions unless both the school and each cluster of students meets improvement targets.
Dismal test scores in Orleans Parish, which account for 10 percent of the state's public school enrollment, hurt the state's bid to improve its schools, officials said.
Jacobs, a former member of the Orleans Parish School Board, said Thursday's figures mean that more than half of Orleans Parish schools scored less than 45 -- next year's minimum score to avoid classification as academically unacceptable.
"I just continue to be dumfounded that there is not more outrage," Jacobs said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.