By LEONARD GRAY-Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Local public school superintendents were pleased, on the whole, with the LEAP and GEE scores this time around, as reported Friday.

Meanwhile, summer school looms for those fourth-, eighth- and 10th-grade students who scored Unsatisfactory on one or both major section of the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) tests and the Graduate Exit Exam (GEE) tests. Makeup tests will conclude the summer schools, hopefully to enable them to advance to the next grade.

St. John the Baptist Parish

Superintendent Michael Coburn said he was “tickled pink” at the results, especially from the elementary schools. In a school-by-school breakdown, LaPlace Elementary, John L. Ory Elementary, Fifth Ward Elementary, East St. John Elementary and West St. John Elementary each made significant gains.

One top example was East St. John Elementary, where language arts scores went from 22 to 11 percent failure rate and math scores went from 30 to 13 percent failure rate.

Another was West St. John Elementary, where language arts scores went from 32 to 24 failure rate and math scores went from 56 to 27 percent failure rate.

LaPlace Elementary had 3 percent failure rate in language arts and 5 percent in math, while Ory had no failures.

Fifth Ward Elementary went from 35 to 24 percent in language arts and 38 to 33 percent in math.

Fourth-grade scores increased slightly, less than 5 percent, at Garyville Magnet and at Glade.

In eighth grade, Garyville Magnet went from 11 to 8 percent failure rate in language arts but from 21 to 20 percent in math.

In the GEE exams for 10th grade students, special-education scores, necessarily calculated with regular education, hurt total scores. East St. John High had a 22 percent failure rate for regular ed in language arts, but 89 percent in special ed. Math had a 38 percent rate for regular ed and 85 percent for special ed.

At West St. John High, regular ed had 21 percent in language arts and 46 percent in math, but special ed had 89 percent in language arts and 100 percent in math.

“We’ve got to do a much better job with our special ed students,” Coburn said.

Grade Four

English Language Arts – In this category, fourth-graders lost a little ground in its Unsatisfactory percentage, moving from 28 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2001 to 17 percent in 2002, but back up to 19 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, fourth-graders registered significant gains on its Unsatisfactory percentage, moving from 37 percent in 2000 to 32 percent in 2001 to 29 percent in 2002 to 21 percent this year.

Grade Eight

English Language Arts – In this category, eighth-graders slipped a bit. After posting an 18 percent failure rate in 2000, dropping to 20 percent in 2001, to 18 percent in 2002, but back up to 21 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, eighth-graders continued to lose ground. After posting an 42 percent failure rate in 2000, they improved to 35 percent in 2001, but faded to a 40 percent rate in 2002 and back to 42 percent this year.

Graduate Exit Exam – Grade 10

English Language Arts – Students in this category had a 36 percent failure rate this year, compared to 35 percent in 2002 and 27 percent in 2001.

Mathematics – Students in this category had a 47 percent failure rate this year, compared to 52 percent in 2002 and 44 percent in 2001.

Summer school for St. John the Baptist Parish will be held June 2-July 11, at Glade School, Garyville/Mt. Airy and West St. John Elementary. Classes will be Mondays-Thursdays.

ST. CHARLES PARISH

Dr. Rodney Lafon’s staff is still analyzing their LEAP and GEE test results, according to district spokeswoman Rochelle Touchard.

Rachel Allemand, executive director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, observed the greatest growth in math scores, statewide a comparitively weak area. “Overall, we’re encouraged.”

Language arts for fourth grade lost ground, but so did most districts across Louisiana, and the cause for that is being studied.

Math scores was steady for eighth grade, and gained ground in fourth grade and especially in 10th-grade GEE scores, a remarkable leap from 28 to 15 percent failure rate, nearly slashing it in half.

Grade Four

English Language Arts – In this category, fourth-graders lost ground, with 7 percent Unsatisfactory in 1999, 7 percent in 2000, 8 percent in 2001, 6 percent in 2002 and 9 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, fourth-graders gained ground, as their scores went from 18 percent Unsatisfactory in 1999, to 12 percent in 2000 and 2001, 14 percent in 2002 and down to 10 percent this year.

Grade Eight

English Language Arts – In this category, eighth-graders continued to struggle, moving from 9 percent Unsatisfactory in 1999, improving to 5 percent in 2000 and 2001, but slipping to 6 percent in 2002 and sliding to 9 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, eighth-graders hung on, moving from 21 percent Unsatisfactory in 1999, to 18 percent in 2000, 15 percent in 2001, to 12 percent in 2002 and staying at 12 percent this year.

Graduate Exit Exam, Grade 10

English Language Arts – Students in this category had a 11 percent failure rate this year, compared to 12 percent in 2002 and 9 percent in 2001.

Mathematics – Students in this category had a 15 percent failure rate this year, compared to 23 percent in 2002 and 14 percent in 2001.

Summer school dates for grades four and eight students are June 9-July 9 at Ethel Schoeffner Elementary School; and for grade 10 students at Hahnville High School.

ST. JAMES PARISH

Dr. P. Edward Cancienne, superintendent for St. James Parish Public School District, commented, “We do feel we’re on the right track,” and pointed out progress in most areas tested.

Title I Supervisor Peggy Richard said eighth-grade math improved 14 percent, while fourth-grade math improved 8 percent. In Language Arts, fourth grade went up 4 percent and eighth grade went up 8 percent.

“We’re trying to see that movement upwards,” Cancienne added.

He was elated at the gains in the 10th grade math scores, a sizeable jump from 52 percent to 30 percent failure rate. “We realize we need to work harder at the high school level,” he said.

Grade Four

English Language Arts – In this category, fourth-graders had a 28 percent Unsatisfactory rate in 1999 and 2000,16 percent in 2001 and 2002, and 17 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, fourth-graders had a 38 percent Unsatisfactory rate in 1999, 25 percent in 2000, 26 percent in 2001, 25 percent in 2002, and 18 percent this year.

Grade Eight

English Language Arts – In this category, eighth-graders had a 29 percent Unsatisfactory rate in 1999, improved to 19 percent in 2000, 18 percent in 2001 and 21 percent this year.

Mathematics – In this category, eighth-graders had a 60 percent Unsatisfactory rate in 1996, improved to 48 percent in 2000, 46 percent in 2001 and 33 percent this year.

Graduate Exit Exam

English Language Arts – Tenth-grade students in this category had a 31 percent failure rate this year, compared to 31 percent in 2002 and 29 percent in 2001.

Mathematics – Students in this category had a 30 percent failure rate this year, compared to 52 percent in 2002 and 34 percent in 2001.

St. James Parish summer school will be held June 2-July 3, at Gramercy Elementary for East Bank students and Sixth Ward Elementary for West Bank students.

To pass the 4th- and 8th-grade LEAP 21 and the high school GEE 21, students must score at the Approaching Basic level or above. There are five achievement levels students can attain: Unsatisfactory, Approaching Basic, Basic, Mastery or Advanced.

However, next year’s LEAP passing score could be Basic, instead of Approaching Basic, raising the bar on Louisiana education.

According to school officials, though, those discussions are still in progress, and a decision is expected by early fall.

This year, more students passed the high-stakes test than ever before. While slightly fewer eighth graders passed this year, the improvement in the fourth grade pass rate more than made up the difference. When both grades are combined, 75 percent of first-time test takers passed LEAP 21 in 2003, compared to 74 percent in 2002 and 65 percent in 2000.

The state’s goal for all students is to achieve at the Basic level or above, and higher percentages of students scored at that Basic level or above than in previous years.

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Leslie Jacobs said, “We have more students passing the tests and more students achieving at the Basic level or above. Our students are doing much better in math and our GEE 21 scores improved.”

The news was also encouraging on GEE 21, where students must pass English Language Arts, math and science or social studies in order to be eligible to graduate from high school.

Students are first given English Language Arts and math in the 10th grade and science and social studies in the 11th grade. If they fail, students are given additional chances to retake the test.

Jacobs said what is most encouraging about the high school results is the percentage of students scoring Basic or above in math. Fifty-nine percent of students scored Basic or above in math in 2003, compared to 55 percent in 2002 and 51 percent in 2001.

“In 10th grade, a student who achieves Basic or above in math is prepared to go to college and is likely to have an ACT score that qualifies them for TOPS,” Jacobs said.