Local districts analyze 2016 LEAP scores

The Louisiana Department of Education released 2016 LEAP assessment results Thursday and local schools are showing improvements.

Overall, students statewide improved performance in English Language Arts and math, increasing from 33 percent of all ELA and math tests in those subjects scoring Mastery or above in 2015 to 38 percent in 2016 and from 65 percent scoring "Basic" or above in 2015 to 67 percent in 2016. The percentage of students scoring "Mastery" or above in science also increased at every grade level from the previous year. LDOE officials believe schools, districts, educators and students are adjusting to the higher expectations implemented through a four-year transition period.

"We have raised academic expectations in order to prepare more students for the workplace and college. These results are encouraging. However, still today, too few students are fully prepared for the next level of education, and significant gaps remain in performance between historically disadvantaged students and their peers," said State Superintendent John White. "We have the opportunity to address these challenges through Louisiana's plan in response to the Every Student Succeeds Act. I am greatly encouraged by the conversations I have had with educators, parents, community members, business leaders, and civil rights advocates over the last two months."

Local school districts are rising to the occasion and are attributing their success to educators, parents and students.

The number of students scoring "mastery' or above on the assessment has increased by 16 percent in DeSoto Parish School since 2012, according to the district. DeSoto has also been listed as 15th in the state in percentile ranking for growth in the category of “Mastery and Above” for tests in grades 3-8 content areas.

“We have outstanding teachers doing great work in the classrooms,” said DeSoto Schools Superintendent Cade Brumley. “We are working to take each child to higher levels of academic achievement.This news complements the success we’re seeing in other areas such as ACT scores, End of Course Assessments, and graduation rates. We are one of the fastest-improving districts in the State of Louisiana and we hope to maintain that momentum.”

Webster Parish Schools decreased in percentile ranking, moving from 35 in 2012 to 38 in 2016, but the percentage of tests scoring Mastery and Above increased from 19 percent in 2012 to 31 percent in 2016.

“Our scores are pretty much what we had last year and we had a few schools do a little better, and a few schools do a little worse, but no bad,” said Webster Parish Schools Superintendent Daniel Rawls. “Last year, we had a few schools with some high points that surprised us and we had a couple that didn’t do well in certain subject areas and grade levels. We’ll take that data, study it and find out what went wrong. We’ll certainly make corrective actions.”

These results are part of a four-year "baseline" evaluation of student skills in Louisiana. After the baseline period, the state will gradually raise performance requirements for schools in the school rating system. Historically an "A" school is one where the average score is Basic.  By 2025, an "A" school will be one where the average score is Mastery, indicating full readiness for the next level of education.

Overall, Caddo improved students scoring at basic and above in English from 60.4 percent in 2015 to 64 percent in 2016. In math, Caddo students increased proficiency from 49 percent in 2015 to 54.5 percent in Spring 2016.

“Our teachers have taken every measure to assure they are providing the best instruction which will not only prepare our students to perform on assessments such as LEAP, but more importantly to have the skills needed to meet for students to be successful in life,” said Caddo Schools Superintendent Lamar Goree. “I applaud each of our teachers who worked long, hard hours to make these student results a reality. Ultimately, results like what we are seeing today are the key to bettering our community and our teachers continue to prove they are more than up to the challenge of improving our parish one child at a time.”

While staff continues to analyze the results on an individual student and classroom level, the data offers summary data of district improvements in key content areas.

“There are so many successes to note within the data, however, it is exciting to see in particular the gains we are making with our third and fourth graders as well as our eighth graders where across the board we saw the greatest increases,” Goree said. “The leadership we have in place along with our dedicated team of teachers and classroom supports are working together to meet the needs of our children.”

Bossier Parish Schools students in grades 3-8 made gains across the board in math and surpassed state cumulative results. Eighth-graders also showed improvement in math proficiency, despite this being the first year their peers who were taking high school level Algebra did not take the math portion of the LEAP.  Bossier Parish students again surpassed the state average in English for the percentage of New Proficient, which represents the higher standards set for student expectations by the year 2025 in English and math.

“Our teachers are to be commended for their commitment to ensure every student succeeds and they do this by tightly aligning the taught curriculum with the written and tested curriculum,” said Nichole Bourgeois, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum.“What happens each day in the classroom is the decisive factor contributing to student achievement, and that is the teacher.”

Individual student performance scores will give school principals valuable insight to determine strengths and weaknesses and enable their teaching staff to differentiate instruction that best meets the needs of each child, according to the district's news release.

Scott Smith, Superintendent of Bossier Schools, said “While we are pleased to see the many gains made by our students, Bossier Schools is committed to take every measure to address academic weaknesses and close any achievement gaps where they persist. At the same time, we will continue to set the bar high to help prepare our students to be college and workforce ready as well as globally competitive.”

Performance also improved among historically disadvantaged student populations, though not at the same rate as the general population in every case. At the Mastery level, economically disadvantaged students saw a five percentage point increase, equal to the state increase, from 25 percent in 2015 to 30 percent in 2016. African-American students achieved a three percentage point increase in students scoring Mastery, from 21 percent in 2015 to 24 percent in 2016.

While overall student performance improved, achievement gaps between peers persist. The achievement gap between African-American students and white students at the Mastery level is 26 percentage points. Likewise, the achievement gap at the Mastery level between economically disadvantaged students and those who are not economically disadvantaged is 28 percentage points. Both gaps are larger today than they were under less challenging standards, prior to the transition.