RSD

Charter Schools Help Improve Special Education in New Orleans

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

This guest editorial appeared in the Times-Picayune, and I wanted to share it with you.

Charter Schools Help Improve Special Education in New Orleans: Leslie Jacobs

In fourth grade, James, a special needs student at John Dibert Charter School, was struggling academically and behaviorally. He was making daily trips to the dean’s office for disruptive behavior and emotional outbursts. James is now on honor roll in eighth grade, scored mastery and advanced on state tests and is applying to Ben Franklin High School.

Zaria transferred to Arthur Ashe Charter School at the beginning of second grade as a special education student, reading at kindergarten level. By the end of fourth grade she scored mastery in English.

Zaria and James are two of the many students who have benefited from the city’s improvement in serving students with special needs.

Continue reading →

Positive Results from New Expulsion Policies

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

The Recovery School District (RSD) and the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) announced the results of the first year of the new expulsion policy for public schools in Orleans Parish.

  • There were 272 expulsions in the 2012-13 school year, for an expulsion rate of .57%
  • In comparison, the state had an expulsion rate of .7%
  • New Orleans’ expulsion rate is 20% below the state

Not only is New Orleans leading the state in academic gains, we are doing so while expelling fewer students than the state average.

What did New Orleans do differently in the 2012-13 school year?

  • Common expulsion process and definition: Charter and traditional school leaders across the RSD, OPSB, and Type 2 charter schools worked together to establish a joint policy and coordinate a centralized process for student expulsions.

The 2012-13 school year was the inaugural year, with 90 of the 91 public schools in New Orleans participating. These schools agreed that all expulsion hearings would be administered by the RSD’s Student Hearing Office and agreed to limit the reasons a student could be expelled. Continue reading →

Good News About Cheating

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

The Lens recently reported on the number of test administration mistakes and instances of cheating found by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) from 2010 to 2012 for public schools in New Orleans. This information was provided to The Lens by the LDOE.

Educate Now! is very encouraged by the results.

The fact that only 130 tests out of hundreds of thousands given in New Orleans over three years were voided – due to student cheating, adult cheating, or administrative errors – is very good news.
Continue reading →

2013 EOC Results – High School Gains Continue

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

The state has released the End-of-Course (EOC) exam results for 2012-2013.

The percent of students proficient (scoring Excellent or Good) increased – and at a faster rate than the state. 

From 2011-12 to 2012-13, looking at all tests combined:

  • RSD-New Orleans and OPSB each gained 7 percentage points.
  • The state gained 4 points.

Percent of Students Proficient
(Scoring Excellent or Good)

District 2011-2012  2012-2013  Gain
RSD-New Orleans 31% 38% 7
OPSB 61% 68% 7
Louisiana 55% 59% 4

View a comparison of gains by district.

Continue reading →

2013 Test Scores Are In, and We Rock! … Again!!

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Student performance showed robust improvement for the 6th consecutive year.

  • New Orleans (OPSB & RSD) is #1 in growth, gaining 5 points in the percentage of students meeting the state proficiency goal of Basic or above.
  • This growth was fueled by RSD-New Orleans, with its 6 point gain.
  • OPSB grew 1 point, equal to the state average.
  • Students improved across all grades and subjects.

Special Education – OPSB Not Serving Its Share

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Schools under the OPSB serve a disproportionately low number of students with disabilities. The city average is 9.9% special education students, but OPSB schools (charter and traditional combined) serve 6.6%. OPSB charters serve only 5.49% while RSD charters serve 11.1%.

Even OPSB’s open-admission charter schools are significantly under-serving special education students.

OPSB receives a lump sum based on the total number of students with disabilities in the city. It then distributes the money among its schools as if each individual school had the average 9.9% special education enrollment. That means some OPSB schools are getting much more than their fair share of special education dollars, while other schools aren’t getting enough.

Read more in this article in the Times-Picayune:

Special education enrollment numbers show Orleans Parish School Board charters lagging

View the list of schools and special education enrollment:

Enrollment Data Released; 84% now attending Charter Schools

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

The state has released enrollment data for New Orleans public schools, which includes all OPSB schools, RSD New Orleans schools and the city’s Type 2 charter schools. As of October 1, 2012:

  • 84% of New Orleans public school students attend charter schools, up from 78% last year and 71% in 2010. New Orleans has a greater percentage of students in charter schools than anywhere else in the country. Detroit and the District of Columbia come in a distant second with just over 40% in charters. The national average is 4%.
  • Enrollment increased for the 6th consecutive year to 43,540 students, up 1,510 students from last year and a 70% increase from 2006, the first full year after Katrina. Additionally, another 2,440 New Orleans students are receiving publicly funded vouchers to attend private or parochial schools. This increase in enrollment likely means the city’s population continues to grow. Continue reading →

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 →

More New Orleans Graduates College and Career Ready

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

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.

  • The percent of Orleans Parish public school students eligible for TOPS scholarships (two- or four-year) has grown from 24.9% in 2005 to 37.2% for last year’s graduates – a gain of 12.3 percentage points.
  • During this same time, the state average grew only 5.2 percentage points, from 37.3% in 2005 to 42.5% in 2011. Continue reading →

Voucher Program in Trouble

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Voucher Program Faltering: Accountability and Performance Standards Needed

Educate Now! analyzed student test scores from voucher schools and compared them to New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD) schools. We found that for the second year in a row, students participating in the voucher program performed worse than students in the RSD!

STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Comparing 3rd, 4th and 5th graders

  • Statewide:  75% performed on grade level (Basic or above)
  • RSD schools: 49% performed on grade level
  • Voucher schools: Only 38% performed on grade level

Continue reading →