School board hears accountability results

CENTERVILLE — St. Mary Parish Superintendent of Schools Leonard Armato on Thursday announced results from the Louisiana Department of Education’s accountability report and upcoming testing dates for spring assessments at the monthly school board meeting.

The Louisiana Department of Education released a 2014-15 accountability report late last month, Armato said.

Each school is assigned a school performance score based on various indexes.

Elementary scores are based solely on student performance from state assessments.

Ninety-five percent of junior high school SPS comes from the assessment results.

High school SPS results are made up of four equal parts. It includes the ACT, end-of-course exams, graduation rate and strength of diploma.

The school system also received a district performance score based on all of those components.

The DPS performance score is 91.1. This is an improvement from last year’s 90.4.

The performance ratings for the district revealed four A schools (100-150), six B schools (85-99.9), 10 C schools (70-84.9), and three D schools (50-69.9).

The honor of “top gains” schools recognizes any school that achieves its growth target and meets annual yearly progress within tested subgroups.

Based on the district’s 2015 ratings, three schools of St. Mary Parish qualified for this distinction. The schools were Centerville High School, Franklin Junior High School and M.E. Norman Elementary School.

Although results from last year’s state assessments were received late in the fall, teachers are preparing students for testing in April.

“Talking about test scores, we’re just getting them back from last year,” Armato said. “Now as we move forward, we’re already in the process of beginning to get ready for testing again.

“We just got the results last month to prepare for this year,” he said.

Elementary, junior high and high schools continue to prepare students for upcoming state assessments.

When spring break is over, computer-based testing in English language arts and math will begin for fifth- through eighth-grade students. It will continue for a three-week period, Armato said.

Students will take their paper-based science LEAP test April 28.

Third- and fourth-graders will take English language arts, math and science assessments on paper the week of April 25.

The social studies test for third through eighth grades is only a field test this year. It will be administered online the week of May 9.

This test will not count towards next year’s school performance scores.

“As these (testing) days approach, schools will intensify after-school tutoring and incorporate the use of both paper and online practice testing from the Louisiana Department of Education,” Armato said.

High schools will continue administering the Workkeys assessment to seniors, in addition to preparing students for the ACT.

ACT testing for all juniors will be administered March 1.