Statewide school performance scores in Louisiana showed little or no improvement in academic performance scores or did worse than last year, the state education superintendent said today.
Twelve schools in Caddo Parish are on the lists of academically unacceptable, including Bethune Middle School for a fifth consecutive year. There was one each in DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes.
Caddo schools listed as academically unacceptable for a third year are Barret Elementary, Caddo Heights Elementary, J.S. Clark Middle, Fair Park High, Green Oaks High, Linear Middle, Linwood Middle, Oak Park Elementary, Booker T. Washington High and Woodlawn High.
Those on the list for the first year were Ingersoll Elementary in Shreveport, Mansfield Elementary in DeSoto Parish and George L. Parks Elementary in Natchitoches.
Fewer schools in Louisiana met their improvement targets than in the previous eight years of the accountability program, and state schools Superintendent Paul Pastorek said this points to a need for greater reforms and help at the state level.
Deputy Superintendent of Education Ollie Tyler, the former schools superintendent in Caddo Parish, called for the acceleration of efforts to remake public high schools.
Under the accountability system, which calls for ongoing improvement in student achievement, schools are given performance scores based on a scale of 0-180. Of the nearly 1,120 schools, 70 were deemed academically unacceptable, meaning they scored below 60 on the scale. That’s down from last year, but the number is expected to rise when schools affected by the 2005 hurricanes fall under the accountability system again.
In all, 288 schools showed minimal growth, 184 showed no growth and 290 were labeled as schools in decline. By contrast, 104 showed “recognized growth” and 163, exemplary growth.