Low Performing School Characteristics

The Louisiana Legislature requires reporting on low performing schools that are not making acceptable yearly progress. Currently, the report highlights schools with a School Performance Score of below 60 and growing at a rate of less than 2 points. The report is the Louisiana MFP Accountability Report. The most recent version is dated May, 2008.

The complete report is available at http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/uploads/12524.pdf

I am quoting below highlights of findings as reported in the Executive Summary.

• Schools with the "Academically Unacceptable label" have higher percentages of student poverty, student minorities, and teacher minorities.
• Schools with higher K-12 student attendance rates and higher percentages of certificated teachers have higher SPS.
• Schools with higher percentages of minority and impoverished students have lower SPS.
• Schools with the "Academically Unacceptable label" have higher expenditures and lower teacher salaries compared to the average for all schools.
• Schools with higher percentages of minority teachers and higher teacher turnover have lower SPS.
• Schools with the "Academically Unacceptable" label have a higher percentage of teachers with a Master's degree, a larger pupil-teacher ratio and slightly less years of teacher experience when compared to the average for all schools.

Certainly this information must be considered in context. And the findings should add to the public understanding of educational issues discussed in the local media. For example, Teacher Quality was recently the subject of several news stories.

This information should also be helpful to PTA, alumni and other civic organizations with a stake in this community.