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Four-Year Cohort Graduation Rate by District
New Orleans = OPSB, RSD, charter and traditional schools
In this edition of In the News:
Louisiana overhauling teaching goals, standardized tests in effort to raise the bar for students
Times-Picayune - March 22, 2013
This article gives a good overview of the major changes coming as Louisiana raises the education bar again, implementing the new, national set of education standards called the Common Core. To help students meet the new goals, textbooks must be ordered, computers upgraded, lesson plans updated, and new tests developed. Louisiana has joined 22 states in using the PARCC tests for English and math, which will be much more rigorous than the current LEAP tests. The tests won’t go into effect until late 2014, but teachers will start teaching to the new standards this fall. Educators are encouraged to look at the PARCC sample items and prototypes to help them prepare.
Editor’s note: New York and Georgia are ahead of Louisiana in developing their new curricula, and both states are offering all of their materials for free online. Visit EngageNY.org or GeorgiaStandards.org for more information.
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With the recent release by the U.S. Department of Education of national high school completion rates, New Orleans has cause to celebrate. In terms of graduating students on time, we have closed the performance gap.
States are now required to use a common measurement for high school completion: the percent of first time 9th graders who graduate within 4 years with a regular diploma (the 4-year cohort graduation rate1). The data on the graduating class of 2011 shows that nationally 76% of white students and 60% of black students graduated on time.
In New Orleans, 76.5% of our students graduated on time2
New Orleans had 2,051 high school graduates in 2011, 443 more than if we were at the national average for black students, and 657 more than if we were still at New Orleans’ 2005 graduation rate.
Educate Now! has reviewed the 2012 TOPS data, and the percent of public school graduates eligible for TOPS scholarships in Orleans Parish is now higher than in Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes.
When School Performance Scores (SPS) are released this fall (2012 scores), they will be based on the same formula as in the past, except the score for a failing school increases from 65 to 75.
Next year at this time, however, the 2013 School Performance Scores will be calculated very differently. Here are some of the highlights:
Scale: The simplified scale will run between 150 and 0. (Currently it runs from 200 to 0.)
School Grades: An SPS of 100 will equal an A; an SPS of less than 50 will equal an F.
K-8 Schools:
High Schools: The changes in calculating the SPS for high schools are more significant. Read More
Performance is uneven in traditional public schools. Performance is uneven in charter schools. It should come as no surprise that performance is uneven in nonpublic schools.
Let’s look at two schools participating in the Orleans voucher pilot: St. Leo the Great and Upperroom Bible Church Academy.
But the similarities stop here. Read More
The annual drop out rate1 for New Orleans public schools (OPSB + RSD) has plummeted 60% since Katrina, falling from 11.4% in 2004-05 to 4.1% in 2010-11.
We Continue to Close the Gap!
New Orleans’ drop out rate is now down to the state average. In 2004-05, we had the state’s third highest drop out rate. Read More
