2009 October School Performance Scores

The Big Picture: Good News Overall

The state has just released the 2009 School Performance Scores, and the news is good overall. Students in New Orleans are doing better than they were pre-Katrina, and New Orleans is one of the 5 most-improved areas in the state.

In 2005, just before Katrina, only 37% of Orleans Parish schools were considered Academically Acceptable with one star or higher. Today that number is 58% – an increase of 21 percentage points.

New Orleans is one of the most improved areas in the state, and our rate of progress is significantly higher than the state average. The District Performance Score for New Orleans Schools went from 56.9 in 2005 to 70.6 in 2009, an increase of 13.7 points. The state average only went up 3.6 points during this time.

DISTRICT PERFORMANCE SCORES

2009 SPS District vs State Graph

Since Katrina, only 4 other areas in Louisiana have grown faster than New Orleans: St. Helena, Point Coupee, East Feliciana and Madison – all small rural parishes with less than 3,000 students each. New Orleans has over 35,000 students inĀ its schools.

Highlights and Lowlights

Charter Schools:

Charter Schools continue to out perform traditional public schools. This year, 81% of charters received one star or higher as compared to only 26% of traditional public schools.

In the Recovery School District, 76% of RSD charters (22 of 29) were one star or higher. In contrast, only 15% of the RSD operated schools (4 of 27) were one star or higher.

High Schools:

Pre-Katrina, every non-selective admissions high school in New Orleans was failing.

This year, of the 11 high schools scoring 1 star or above, 6 are open-admissions:

Type Open-Admissions High Schools SPS Performance
Charter Warren Easton Senior High School 84.1 2 stars
Charter Edna Karr Secondary 83 2 stars
Charter N.O. Charter Science and Math Academy 81.6 2 stars
Charter N.O. Charter Science and Math High School 76.7 1 star
Charter Miller-McCoy Academy for Math and Business 67.7 1 star
Charter Thurgood Marshall ECHS (Capdau) 66.4 1 star
Charter Abramson Science and Technology Charter 66.2 1 star

The remaining 5 are selective-admissions:

Type Selective-Admissions High Schools SPS Performance
Charter Benjamin Franklin High School 167.5 5 stars
Charter Lusher Charter School 139.4 4 stars
OPSB Eleanor McMain Secondary School 84.8 2 stars
OPSB McDonogh #35 Senior High School 82.5 2 stars

Honorable mention: While O. Perry Walker’s two-year SPS is 55.9, its one year Growth Performance Score was above 60 at 63.3, showing marked improvement from 2008.

Challenges:

Unfortunately, too many high schools continue to struggle, especially ones operated by the RSD.

Type Academically Unsatisfactory High Schools SPS Performance
Charter O.P. Walker Senior High School 55.9 AUS
Charter Priestly School of Architecture/Construction 51.1 AUS
Charter Algiers Technology Academy 49.9 AUS
RSD Sarah T. Reed Senior High School 33.6 AUS
RSD G.W. Carver High School 29.5 AUS
RSD John McDonogh Senior High School 23.2 AUS
RSD Rabouin Career Magnet High School 22.6 AUS
RSD Joseph S. Clark Senior High School 22.1 AUS
RSD Walter L. Cohen High School 20.0 AUS
RSD Fredrick A. Douglass High School 17.1 AUS

Open-Admissions:

More open-admissions schools are now two stars or higher. Educate Now!‘s definition of an open admissions school: Any child can attend the school no matter where they live, their prior academic or behavior record. If more students want to attend than there are spaces, a random selection process is used.

The following open-admissions schools received 2 stars or higher, deserving a “shout out” and demonstrating that we should expect all of our schools to educate students to higher levels.

Type Open-Admissions Schools – 2 Stars and Above SPS Performance
Charter KIPP Central City Primary 114.6 3 stars
Charter Edward Hynes Charter School 107.1 3 stars
Charter Robert Russa Moton Charter School 97.6 2 stars
Charter E. Phillips: KIPP Believe College Prep 97.2 2 stars
Charter Martin Behrman Elementary School 94.8 2 stars
Charter Dr. M.L.K. Charter School for Science & Tech. 91.4 2 stars
Charter Alice Harte Elementary Charter School 88.9 2 stars
Charter McDonogh #15: A KIPP Transformation School 88.8 2 stars
Charter Einstein Charter School 85.3 2 stars
Charter Edna Karr Secondary School 83.0 2 stars
Charter N.O. Charter Science & Math Academy 81.6 2 stars

Individual School Performance Scores

To view individual School Performance Scores, click on the links below:

2009 School Performance Scores (SPS)

Sorted by District in Alphabetical Order

Sorted by District in SPS Order

Sorted by SPS – Highest to Lowest

Growth Performance Scores

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Educate Now!
Leslie Jacobs
Founder