Aguillard: Test was tougher this year

Louisiana education officials say regionally and statewide, public school student scores stayed relatively steady over 2013 scores, but noted that the tests are becoming more challenging as the state seeks to better prepare students for college.
Statewide, 69 percent of public school students scored at the “basic” or better level on standardized tests this year. St. Mary Parish edged the state at 70 percent. Both of those numbers were identical in 2013.
St. Mary Parish, at 27th in the state for 3rd through 8th grade proficiency, was edged by Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, which each had 71 percent of students scoring basic and above in both 2013 and 2014.
Regionally, the next closest parish was Assumption, ranking 34th with 67 percent, up one point over 2013. Iberia Parish was 36th with 67 percent, down one point from 2013. St. Martin ranked 42nd with 65 percent in both 2013 and 2014.
For St. Mary Parish, Superintendent Donald Aguillard said “LEAP and iLEAP test results released on Tuesday reflect that we experienced a very successful academic year in grades 3-8. I remind you that the 2014 version of LEAP and iLEAP were modified to be more closely aligned to questions expected on the PARCC assessments.”
Specifically, Aguillard said, State Superintendent John White recently identified major changes in the test format including:
—More challenging texts and questions.
—Additional long writing questions in all grades.
—Scoring of students’ writing prompts for grammar in all grades.
—In math, requiring students to both justify their reasoning and respond to arguments by identifying correct reasoning or flawed logic in the argument.
Aguillard said that because of the changes, “comparison of 2014 to prior year results is not appropriate given that the 2014 LEAP and iLEAP exams contained more challenging questions.”
By 2025, White said, half of all students at a school will have to achieve subject mastery in order for that school to get an A rating. “There is not a school system in the state that is at that level today,” White said.
Aguillard identified the 10-year journey as “one of the significant challenges facing all school districts as we move closer to PARCC testing.”
St. Mary Parish recorded 23 percent of students in grades 3-8 as having attained mastery in 2014. That placed the parish in the 61st percentile in the state.
Comparatively, regional district mastery results were Assumption, 19 percent; Iberia, 19 percent; Lafourche, 23 percent; St. Martin, 17 percent; and Terrebonne, 24 percent.
The highest was Zachary Community School District with 47 percent showing mastery.