Zachary, Central and Ascension are three of the top four academically performing public school districts in the state, according to 2017 performance scores released today.
The scores are meant to communicate how well each Louisiana public school district prepares students for the next grade level.
Zachary Community School District tops the list, earning a score of 115.6, compared to 116.2 last year. Central Community School District is third, with a district performance score of 110.5, down from 111.2 in 2016.
Despite the declines, both districts maintained their “A” letter grades.
Ascension, another “A” district, is the state’s No. 4 school district, with a score of 110.4, up from last year’s 109.3.
The news wasn’t so good for Baker’s school district, with its scoring dropping to 56.7, down considerably from 2016’s 65.7. The school district has a “D” grade, as does Baton Rouge’s Recovery School District.
The East Baton Rouge and Livingston Parish school districts, because of severe damage sustained by the August 2016 floods, were given a waiver this year from receiving performance scores and letters. Students in EBR public schools lost 16 days because of the flooding while Livingston students lost about 20 days. EBR a year ago was a “C” district, with a score of 73.5, while Livingston’s 109.5 made it an “A” district.
Louisiana education officials also released individual performance scores for public schools across the state. Scores for the state’s public schools have remained steady for the third year in a row—with 20% earning an “A″ in the state grading system. Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans has the highest school performance score in the state, at 141.3.
Today’s release marks the end of a scoring system that grades schools on a curve, in which the highest performing schools get an “A” and grades are distributed proportionally among other schools. The curve grading system will not be used next year.
Also today, the department of education officially unveiled Louisiana School Finder, an online tool parents can use to evaluate schools and child care centers.
See district-level and individual school-level performance scores.
