Orleans Parish School Board

2012 K-8 Test Scores Released

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

The K-8 student test scores for Louisiana were released today, and New Orleans continues to improve.

Test Score Highlights 

  • For the 6th year in a row, student performance is up.
  • Growth was less robust this year. While the RSD outperformed the state, for the first time since Katrina, OPSB did not.
  • New Orleans Combined (OPSB +RSD) tied the state with a 2 point gain in the percentage of students Basic or above.
  • New Orleans students performed better than last year in all four subjects (English, Math, Science and Social Studies).
  • We reduced the percentage of students performing in the lowest category (Unsatisfactory).
  • We increased the percentage of students performing above grade level (Mastery and Advanced). Continue reading →

2011 Scores are In — New Orleans is #1 in Growth!

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Since 2005, New Orleans has improved more than
any other school district in Louisiana.


District Performance Highlights

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

The 2011 combined DPS for New Orleans was calculated by Educate Now!

Continue reading →

End of Course Tests

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

What are End of Course Tests (EOCs)?

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:

  • English II or English III
  • Algebra I or Geometry
  • Biology or American History

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.

How did our students do?

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 →

The Return Model for School Governance

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

In 2010, Educate Now! convened a Task Force to consider long-term governance alternatives for New Orleans public schools.  In a series of meetings over several months, the members of the Task Force worked on how best to restore local control of public education without imperiling the considerable academic progress since 2005.

The Task Force determined that New Orleans requires a unique governance structure to manage the new “system of schools” that has evolved since Katrina. The structure that the Task Force recommended is called the Return Model.

The Return Model:  A New Approach to Governance for Schools in Orleans Parish

Interviews:  Leslie Jacobs Explains the Return Model

Comment on the Return Model

The Return Model report lays out the governance system that the Task Force recommended.  Not every detail is attended to, and Educate Now! expects and invites community debate that will further refine the model.

 

Top 5 Stories of 2010, Top 5 Wishes for 2011

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Top 5 Stories of 2010

1.  New Orleans public school students (RSD+OPSB) ranked #1 in the state for improved student achievement – both for the year and for the 2005-10 period!

2.  FEMA announces a $1.8 billion settlement for rebuilding and repairing New Orleans school facilities.

FEMA Awards $1.8 Billion to New Orleans Schools for Construction, Renovation Projects
Times-Picayune – August 25, 2010

School Facilities Master Plan – Adopted August 2008

Latest Draft of RSD Building Assignment Recommendations – Revised December 2010

Continue reading →

News Alert: School Performance Scores are Out

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

New Orleans Schools Show Great Improvement

The Louisiana Department of Education has just released the 2010 School Performance Scores (SPS) and District Performance Scores (DPS).

So, how did New Orleans schools do in 2010?

 1.  The percentage of failing schools continues to decline. Continue reading →

Myth 4: If a school kept its name, it must be the same.

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Fact:  For many schools, only the name is the same.

Comparing the performance of individual New Orleans public schools with the same name pre- and post-Katrina is not a valid analysis.

Why? We shuffled the deck.

Schools with the same name may:

  • be in a different location
  • have different grade configurations
  • no longer serve the surrounding neighborhood
  • have different admission requirements Continue reading →

Myth 3: Student test scores were improving before the storm at the same rate they are now.

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Fact:  Since the state takeover, student improvement has more than doubled!

Educate Now! compared the percent of students Basic or above in math and English on the 4th and 8th grade LEAP and the 10th grade GEE tests for 2000, 2005 and 2010.* (For other grades the state changed the tests, so we can’t compare pre- and post-storm numbers.)

  • From 2000 to 2005, the percent of students scoring Basic or above increased from 30% to 37%, a gain of 7 points.

  • From 2005 to 2010, the percent of students scoring Basic or above increased from 37% to 53%, a gain of 16 points! Continue reading →