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. Continue reading
The K-8 student test scores for Louisiana were released today, and New Orleans continues to improve.
One of the key goals of K-12 education is to give our students the educational foundation they need to be college or career ready. In Louisiana, we have a good benchmark to measure this preparedness – what percent of our students qualify for TOPS, a program that provides two- and four-year merit-based scholarships to Louisiana public colleges and universities.
Educate Now! recently reviewed the TOPS data, and New Orleans continues to close the gap.
As we struggle to build a better future for our youth, it is important that we take time to recognize the large and small successes that transpire in our schools every day.
Just this past week, two of our open-admissions high schools have given us reason to celebrate. Sci Academy held a Senior Signing Day to honor the accomplishments of its first graduating senior class. Over 94% of their 55 graduates were accepted to a 4-year college. And Lake Area New Tech Early College High School reported that 100% of their 125 graduates were accepted to either a 2 or 4-year college. Continue reading
Over the next two weeks, you will be asked to vote for the Choice Bill (HB 976 and SB 597), which will make over 350,000 public school students eligible for vouchers. Done well, it can change lives, giving students trapped in failing schools better educational opportunities and improving education statewide. Done poorly, it will waste taxpayer money and financially strain local school districts.
So, let’s pass a good bill – one that will use our tax dollars to provide a better education for public school students. As it currently stands, the bill has two key flaws that you can easily fix.
Orleans Public School Enrollment Continues to Climb with Increase in Diversity and Charter Choice
View student enrollment for OPSB and RSD by year and by sub-group (white, black, free, reduced).
View the Oct 1 student enrollment by school.
For more information on children in New Orleans, read this report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It includes demographic and socio-economic data as well as information on educational achievement.
The Louisiana Department of Education recently released cohort graduation rates for all Louisiana schools. The cohort graduation rate looks at the 4-year graduation rate of students who started high school in 2007.
Read the DOE press release
View cohort graduation rates for New Orleans high schools [xls]
Educate Now! calculates that the combined DPS for New Orleans should be around 82.4. This means that New Orleans has grown a stunning 25.5 points – 49% – between 2005 and 2011!
#1 in Growth Since 2005
District Performance Score = All students, all grades, all tests
Louisiana is phasing out the Graduation Exit Exam (GEE) and replacing it with specific End of Course tests, or EOCs.
There are six EOC exams. Beginning with the freshman class of 2010-11, students must pass at least three of the tests to graduate:
Like the GEE, if a student does not pass the test on their first attempt, they have other opportunities to take the test.
Last year, the state tested students in Algebra I, English II, and Geometry. Tests for Biology, English III and American History will be phased in over the next two years.
The Louisiana Department of Education recently released the 2010-11 End of Course test results for Algebra I, English II and Geometry. Educate Now! analyzed student performance for New Orleans schools, focusing specifically on Algebra I and English II.
Algebra I: New Orleans (all OPSB and RSD schools) outperformed many other school districts, posting its highest ranking relative to other school districts on any state administered test- ever! Continue reading
Some of the most persistent achievement gaps in New Orleans – between black and white, the poor and the well-off, those with and without special needs – are shrinking, and at a pace that is much faster than ever before.
According to The Education Trust, a national organization whose mission is to close achievement gaps, “This is really meaningful progress.” Continue reading
Website made by Operation Spark
