East Baton Rouge Parish Schools received a C grade in the latest round of school district performance scores released today, which also reflect the district’s score dropping from 79.8 last year to 73.5 this year.
State education officials say the latest performance scores for public schools and public school districts show improvements in “nearly every measure of academic progress.”
However, the department also says the school performance grading system needs improvement, adding that the system still doesn’t reflect gains by low-achieving students, The Associated Press reports.
Also, schools are not yet graded on preparation of students for the workforce or college.
The performance reports released today include letter grades—A, B, C, D or F—for schools and school districts. Factors in those grades include the percentage of students achieving “mastery” of subject material in grades three through eight on standardized tests. Performance on the ACT college readiness test is considered, as are graduation rates.
The state says the percentage of students scoring “mastery” and above increased by 6 percentage points from 2015 to this year, and by more than 10 percentage points since 2013. The state has reached a record graduation rate of 77.5%, having raised the rate by more than 10 percent in the past five years.
Overall, 296 schools earned an A this year, up from 220 a year ago. The number of F schools dropped from 105 to 101.
Top performing districts included the Zachary Community Schools District, which earned a 116.2 number score accompanying its “A” ranking; and the Central Community Schools District, another A school, with a number score of 111.2.
