Tuesday, May 31, 2011

New Orleans Public Schools Demonstrate Improvement on State Tests

With the Louisiana Department of Education’s release of LEAP and GEE test scores last week, New Orleans public schools demonstrated impressive growth for the fourth year in a row. Overall, the rate of first time test-takers scoring Basic or above at all public schools in New Orleans grew from 2010 to 2011 in every subject and every grade, and in all but one instance these gains were greater than gains made by the state as a whole. Particularly impressive were gains made in the 8th grade, a reversal of the usual drop off in performance that occurs during the middle school years.

The Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans saw gains of five percentage points from last year, compared with the state average growth of one percentage point. The RSD leads the state in growth over the past four years, having more than doubled the percentage of students scoring Basic or above from just 23 percent in 2007 to 48 percent in 2011.

The Cowen Institute is pleased to release the latest report in the NOLA by the Numbers series, NOLA by the Numbers: High-Stakes Testing. This series aims to provide journalists, policymakers, community leaders, and the public with a timely and comprehensive report of state-released data on public schools in New Orleans. This report focuses on New Orleans public school performance on the LEAP and GEE tests this year.

Click here to download NOLA by the Numbers: High-Stakes Testing. For a detailed explanation of high-stakes testing in Louisiana, click here to download Public School Performance in New Orleans.

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