LOUISIANA HIGH SCHOOLS IMPROVE ON EVERY MEASURE OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

2015 is Baseline Year before Bar Raises to ‘Full Readiness for Next Level of Education’ by 2025

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Education today released school report cards for high schools containing only grades 9-12 for the 2014-2015 school year, continuing the state’s long-term transition to higher expectations. Report cards indicate that schools made progress in every measure the state uses to assess high school quality: end-of-course tests; ACT; graduation rate; and credentialing programs such as Advanced Placement courses and tests, dual enrollment courses, and Jump Start courses and credentials. More schools also demonstrated progress with low-achieving students due to increased reading and math scores with previously low-achieving students and changes in BESE policy.

After the transition baseline period in which all Louisiana public schools are engaged, the state will raise the bar on every measure so that by 2025 students in an A-rated school will average performance levels indicating full readiness for the next level of education on every measure. The Accountability Commission will begin to address this transition for elementary, middle, and high schools in 2016.

In 2014-2015, high school students demonstrated greater levels of readiness, including:
 

• Graduation Rate: The 2014 graduation rate, used in the calculations, increased 1.1 percentage points from 2013 to 74.6 percent. This increase led to nearly 1,600 more students graduating than did in the class of 2013. Of the nearly 1,600 additional students graduating in 2014, more than 1,200 are of a minority racial group and more than 1,230 are from low-income backgrounds. In the current formula, schools averaging a graduation rate of 75 percent earn an ‘A’ in this index.
  
  
• ACT: Louisiana’s average composite score increased to 19.4 in 2015. The state’s 0.2 point gain in the average student’s score topped all states testing 100 percent of students, and ranked third among six such Southern states. Among seniors in 2015, 24,619 students earned a college-going score, an increase of nearly 1,000 students from 23,660 in 2014. In the current formula, schools averaging an 18 ACT composite average earn an ‘A’ in this index. When applying accountability membership rules, the average composite score is 19.2, an increase from 18.8 in 2014.
  
  
• End-of-Course: Statewide, 62 percent of students scored Good or above on End-of-Course tests in 2015. In the current formula, schools averaging ‘Good’ earn an ‘A’ in this index.
  
  
• Diploma Index: To earn an ‘A’, students must graduate with a diploma. Schools earn an ‘A+’ for students graduating with credentials indicating post-secondary readiness.
  • Advanced Placement courses and tests: Louisiana high school students achieved a record number of Advanced Placement credits in 2015, earning nearly 1,300 more in 2015 than 2014, increasing the total from 6,410 to 7,703, a 20 percent increase. Participation also increased 19 percent from 28,009 enrollments in 2014 to 33,231 in 2015.
  • Dual Enrollment courses: The class of 2015 saw an increase of more than 1,500 students participating in Dual Enrollment courses.
  • Jump Start courses and credentials: Nearly 1,300 additional students earned an industry-based certificate before graduating high school in 2015.
    
    
• Progress Points: Progress points indicate literacy and math growth among high school students who struggled in previous grades. Schools can earn a maximum of 10 points. Of 174 high schools, 100 (57 percent) earned progress points in 2015 due to increases in ACT and ACT series scores, and due to a BESE policy change to honor students whose scores exceed ACT’s median projection based on past performance. Overall, high schools earned an average of 3.7 progress points per school in 2015.

“It’s evident that all the hard work being done in our districts is paying off for our students,” said State Superintendent John White. “Those efforts are leading to increased opportunities after high school in both college and the workplace for thousands of students.”

Distribution of School Scores for High Schools Containing Only Grades 9-12:

While Louisiana is making significant gains with post-secondary access, increasing the number of first-time freshman 16 percent from 2011 to 2014, it remains challenging for high school graduates to afford and complete post-secondary education. Louisiana must address this challenge head-on.

• FAFSA completion rates remain low: Fewer than 50 percent of public school students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA) application. It is estimated $55 million in federal financial aid for college went unused.
  
  
• TOPS Tech underutilized: While 91 percent of eligible recipients accept TOPS awards, only 21 percent accept TOPS Tech awards.

School Performance Scores for all remaining schools, Elementary, Middle, and Combination schools, will be released in December.

To view a PowerPoint presentation on the release of the 2015 High School Performance Scores, please click here.

To view 2015 High School Report Cards, please click here.
 

# # # # # #