For Immediate Release: November 17, 2016 Contact: Tom Spencer ([email protected]) Lafayette Parish School System Poised to Achieve “A” Status The Louisiana Department of Education released school and district performance scores today. Compared to districts across the state, Lafayette posted a 7.1 point gain, the 16th best in the state, moving from 89.2 in 2015 to 96.3 in 2016. Lafayette is now ranked in the top 20 districts moving from 27th to 19th in one year. This places Lafayette Parish in the top 26% of the state’s school districts. J.W. Faulk Elementary, G.T. Lindon Elementary, and Live Oak Elementary have been recognized as Top Gains Schools by the Louisiana Department of Education. Top Gains Schools are identified as schools with an SPS of “B” through “F” achieving growth of 10 or more SPS points and meeting all subgroup components, or a school with an SPS of “A” achieving growth of 5 or more SPS points and meeting all subgroup components. This growth marks the largest gain in district performance since the Louisiana Department of Education began assigning performance scores to schools and districts in 2001. 85% (34 of 40) of schools posted positive gains and 62.5% (25 of 40) grew 2.5 or more points. This continues to move the school system closer to Superintendent Aguillard’s and the School Board members’ goal of achieving a District Performance Score of “A.”

District Performance Changes in the components that comprise School and District Performance Scores along with shifting grading scales make direct comparisons difficult over extended periods of time; however, the 4 most recent years have been relatively unchanged with only a shift in the ACT calculation. ACT comprises approximately 12% of a district’s overall score.

The district rose in all six measures used to calculate a District Performance Score. Lafayette gained 3.7 points on the Grades 3-8 Assessment Index, 3.5 points on the Dropout Credit Accumulation Index, 3.8 points on the End of Course Assessment Index, 16.9 points on the ACT Index, 11.3 points on the Strength of Diploma Index, and 14.2 points on the Cohort Graduation Rate Index based on a 7.1% increase in the cohort graduation rate. Currently in the district, there are 13 schools identified as “A” Schools, 7 are “B” Schools, 12 are “C” schools, 7 are “D” schools and N. P. Moss Preparatory remains as the district’s only “F” school. Last year, there were 10 “A” Schools, 8 “B” Schools, 14 “C” Schools, 7 “D” Schools and the one “F” school. 27 Lafayette Parish schools have been recognized either by the Louisiana Department of Education or the district for their academic achievement in the 2015-2016 school year. Schools are listed below with their principals identified. The factors qualifying the school for a particular recognition are also noted next to the principal’s name.

Top Gains Live Oak Elementary – Stacy Danos (10.7) J W Faulk Elementary – Jamilah Hicks (10.7) Green T Lindon Elementary – Cheri Fontenot (9.3) “A”

Official LDOE Designation - Growth of 10 or more SPS points and meets subgroup component status or “A” schools - growth of 5 or more SPS points and meets subgroup component status

Schools of Exemplary Growth Acadiana High – David LeJeune (15.2) “C” to “B” Northside High – Julia Williams (13.2) Comeaux High – Mary Yvonne Zeno (11.3) “C” to “B” Alice Boucher Elementary - Renee White (10.7) Ossun Elementary – Kelli Clause (10.4) Lafayette High – Dr. Donald Thornton (9.0) “A” Broadmoor Elementary – Cindy Duhon (8.3) “A”

Schools that showed a growth of 10 or more points or “A” schools that had 5 or more points of growth

Schools of Outstanding Growth Schools that grew 5 or more Milton Elementary/Middle – Kimberly Etie (9.4) “B” to “A” SPS points or moved up one grade J Wallace James Elementary – Dana Schmersahl (9.4) “C” to “B” level Carencro High – Mary Qualey (8.7) Plantation Elementary – Anne Herrmann (8.4) “B” to “A” Duson Elementary – Katherine Rayburn (7.4) “D” to “C” Lafayette Middle – Allison El Koubi (7.4) Judice Middle – Sonjie Fontenot (6.3) David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy – Jeff Debetaz (6.0) “B” to “A” Ridge Elementary – Dr. Mark Rabalais (5.3) Ernest Gallet Elementary – Monique Chargois (2.7) “B” to “A” Highest SPS by Level Elementary Green T Lindon Elementary – Cheri Fontenot - 111.4 Middle School L J Alleman Middle – Jennifer Gardner - 112.4 High School Early College Academy – Anne Castille - 123.2 Schools of Achievement (“A” Schools) Woodvale Elementary – 110.5 L Leo Judice Elementary – 109.9 Edgar Martin Middle – 105.1 Paul Breaux Middle – 102.6

Highest SPS by elementary, middle and high

Schools who earned an “A” letter grade and did not show enough growth to be in any of the above categories

High School Performance Gains High schools posted the strongest gains in the district, averaging over 9 points of growth. Each high school grew by the following number of points: Acadiana High 15.2 points, Carencro 8.7 points, Lafayette High 9.0 points, Northside High 13.2 points, Comeaux High 11.3 points, David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy (High School only) 7.7 points, and the Early College Academy 1.5 points for the top score of 123.6. Gains made in Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), and WorkKeys testing contributed significantly to this growth. AP and CLEP exam scores contribute to the Strength of Diploma Index which accounts for 25% of a high school’s performance score. This increased by 11.3 points. The Louisiana Department of Education ranked Lafayette Parish in the top ten districts in the state for its passing rate on AP exams. The ACT and WorkKeys assessments make up the ACT Assessment Index which accounts for another 25% of a high school’s performance score. This year marks the first year that the WorkKeys assessment was administered to students. The ACT Index grew by 16.9 points. The End of Course (EOC) Index is the 3rd component of a high school’s performance score and like the Strength of Diploma and ACT indexes accounts for 25% of the total score. Lafayette Parish increased its index score on 4 of the 6 EOC exams. Algebra grew 14.3 points; Geometry grew 5.2 points; English 3 grew 6.4 points, and Biology grew 0.5 points. There was a decrease on U.S. History exam of 2.7 points, and English 2 decreased 1.2 points. Overall, the EOC Index grew 3.7 points. The final component used to calculate a high school’s performance score is the Cohort Graduation Rate Index. This is a measure of the number of students graduating on time with their peers, and graduation data from the previous year is used to calculate the index score. Lafayette increased its graduation rate by 7.1% from school year 20132014 to 2014-2015. The Graduation Rate Index increased by 14.2 points. Carencro High School principal, Mary Qualey said that the “8.7 increase at Carencro High is the result of teamwork that targeted the areas of greatest potential for improvement and the leadership to support faculty efforts. Academics, Culture/Climate, and Community Outreach were identified as CHS’s three targeted areas. The area of Academics was broken down into two subcategories; faculty and students. For the faculty, teachers’ weekly Professional Development requirements were differentiated according to the teachers’ needs in the areas of technology, Response to Intervention (RtI), classroom management, best practices, literacy, and differentiated instruction. Common meeting times were utilized to create and evaluate common assessments, to analyze student data, and to determine student levels of proficiency in the core instructional areas. At the end of each grading period, teachers created an action plan that would address student academic deficiencies. Students benefitted from smaller class sizes, thus allowing teachers to focus on individual instruction of the student along with student schedules being individualized based on test data. A daily thirty minute period allowed for continuous concentration on RtI, ACT prep, End of Course (EOC) preparation, and core-subject tutoring. Study Island, Fast ForWord, and School Assist were used to enhance and manage the thirty minutes. Many students took advantage of this period to make up tests or missed class work. The special education department was able to focus on raising performance scores with inclusion teachers working in harmony with regular education teachers to provide individualized and specialized instruction for the needs of those students. The 504 and special education population accounts for approximately 25% of the total population and receives services. Changing the climate on the campus and increasing parental and community involvement were essential for improving student performance. All of the growth and improvement made during the course of the 2015-2016 year cannot be contained to that single year alone as many of the actions that were deployed began in previous years.” When asked about the source of her success, Early College Academy principal Anne Castille shared the following testimonial from parent Dr. Ryan Lee Teten, an Associate Professor of the Department Political Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

As the Associate Dean of the University College and an Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science at the University of Louisiana, I cannot say with enough emphasis how valuable the Early College Academy has been both to my own family and to UL. My son and daughter are both currently enrolled at the Early College Academy, and the incredible opportunity with which they are presented is unparalleled. Not only do they have some of the finest administrators and high school teachers in the state, but the ability of ECA students to take college classes from the outset of their career, and then full college schedules each semester in their junior and senior years, allows the students to graduate both high school and with an associate’s degree and 82 hours of college credit before even setting foot on a university campus. The teachers and the administrators of ECA truly care for the success of each and every student, and this can be seen also by the incredible graduation rate (96% compared to the 75.9% parish average) and recognition as one of the top high schools in the country by Newsweek. I believe this is in large part due to the student-centered and mission-driven guidance provided by Principal Anne Castille. In addition to providing a mix of college and high school classes during their 4 years at ECA, once the students move on to a four-year university, they are already classified as juniors and then can explore majors, double majors and double minors. The ECA students that I have had the chance to work with at UL are driven, most often seek post graduate degrees, and really embody everything good about Lafayette and its public schools. Please do not assume that this success comes without rigor either, as both of my children spend long hours and late nights in order to balance the strenuous coursework and faculty demands. The students of ECA, however, meet these challenges head on, and through their efforts and the encouragement of the administration, are incredibly successful in both the high school, college and career path realms. Dr. Donald Thornton, principal of Lafayette High School said, “To help maximize school performance scores, LHS employed a multifaceted approach. We focused on the students in each grade level, especially incoming freshmen, to see where they were the weakest. These students were able to benefit from Response to Intervention (RtI) and other remedial classes to help them strive to achieve at least on grade level or higher. In addition, our counselors, academic interventionist, and RtI teacher worked with struggling students on a more personal basis. Students' progress was monitored throughout the year. Every teacher on campus focused on daily bell ringer activities that directly correlated to specific tests the students would be taking, whether it be ACT, EOC, or AP. Students who didn't perform well on the ACT had the chance to take the WorkKeys exam. WorkKeys allowed students to achieve the same amount of points (if they passed all three parts) as if they had scored an 18 or above on the ACT. As an incentive, students scoring at least an 18 on ACT, gold or silver on WorkKeys, and/or Good or Excellent on the EOC had their names entered into a raffle for an Apple iPad Air 2. LHS and the PTO were able to purchase two per grade level for the raffle. This was an added benefit for students that performed well on their exams.” Northside High School principal Julia Williams said: “We attribute the increase in our school performance score to a commitment by our students, faculty, staff, and parents to see Northside High School improve. More students are taking the ACT and ACT WorkKeys to improve opportunities to attend college or enter the workforce. We offered intervention classes specifically for ACT to raise students’ scores. The Louisiana Department of Education and Lafayette Parish School System provided funding for Northside students to be able to take AP and CLEP exams and increase the opportunity to earn college credit. Students who took an AP exam or earned credit through the CLEP helped our school earn more points toward our SPS. Our graduation rate saw a large increase due to more students earning a high school diploma with their cohort. We are constantly improving our methods for tracking students who leave Northside before graduating. While we are very proud of our progress, we know there is still room to grow, and we continue to focus on the task at hand, which is to see every student college and career ready by the time they graduate. This school year, we are focusing on continuing the improvement in ACT and WorkKeys scores as well as an intense focus on improving our EOC performance through our professional learning community and intervention period processes.”

Middle School Performance Two schools, Milton Elementary/Middle and David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy are considered combination schools and scored well. Milton Elementary/Middle School saw 9.4 points of growth, and David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy saw 6.0 points of growth. Both schools moved from “B” to “A” status. Eight of the ten remaining middle schools posted improvements to their SPS, with four schools growing by more than 5 points. All middle

schools retained their letter grades, with the exception of Youngsville dropping from an “A” to a “B” and Acadian dropping from a “C” to a “D”.

Elementary School Performance In addition to the three Top Gains Schools, (Green T Lindon, J W Faulk, Live Oak) all but four grew, and eight of the 21 elementary schools grew more than 5 points. With the exception of Katharine Drexel, all elementary schools maintained or improved their letter grade score. Katharine Drexel went from a “B” to a “C.” Schools are identified as Top Gains Schools when they show significant growth without being in subgroup component failure. If the school was an “A” the previous year, it had to grow at least 5 points. If a school was rated “B through F” the previous year, it had to grow 10 or more points. Although they did not meet the criteria to be named a Top Gains School, both Alice Boucher Elementary and Ossun Elementary had gains exceeding 10.0 points.

Achievement Gap Data Local calculations show that Lafayette Parish has also made significant gains in narrowing the achievement gap. Comparing the highest performing subgroup, (white students), and the lowest performing group, (African American students), the following gaps closed in grades 3 – 5: English Language Arts by 16.6%, math by 15.8% and science 12.7%. For grades 6 – 8: English Language Arts gap decreased by 11.7%, math increased by 7.5% and science decreased by 4.6%.

District Level Academic Strategies In addition to school-specific strategies, the district’s academic focus includes  A five year academic strategic plan – Vision 2020 • Setting expectations for Principals’, Assistant Principals’, Instructional Strategists’, Data Analysts’, Liaisons’, Teachers’, and Academic Directors’, Counselors’ and Specialists’ • Strengthening Principal leadership through the Principal Leadership Grant opportunities • Use of Scientific Learning’s Fast ForWord in 25 schools • Focused School-Based Leadership Teams on data to drive instruction through Quarterly Curriculum Alignment Reviews • NWEA Measurements of Academic Progress as an individual school and district growth tool for monitoring current and ongoing student academic progress • District-wide grading policy in Pupil Progress Plan supported with professional development • School Improvement Team consisting of an Administrator, Academic Auditor and Instructional Coach to address Closing the Achievement Gap at the three lowest performing elementary (emerging) schools • Lower student/teacher ratios for the emerging schools • Extended year academics for students at three emerging schools • Gear UP activities focused on College and Career Readiness • Extended school learning for students in 5th, 6th, and 7th grades at five middle schools • Additional English as a Second Language support in elementary schools

District Performance Score Components

Dropout Credit Accumulation Index

Assessment Index End-of-Course Exams

Assessment Index ACT

Strength of Diploma

Cohort Graduation Rate Index

Cohort Graduation Rate

2016 Progress Points

District

Letter Grade

Annual DPS

Assessment Index Grades 3-8

Lafayette Parish 2016

B

96.3

81.2

130.3

78

91.1

88

101.8

75.9

10

Lafayette Parish 2015

B

89.2

77.5

126.8

74.2

74.2

76.7

87.6

68.8

10

High School Performance Score Components 2016

2015

EOC

ACT

Acadiana High School

68.5

91.1

Strength of Diploma Index 81.1

Carencro High School David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy

46.4

81.5

71.1

98.0

97.7

101.0

132.5

0.0

107.3

Early College Academy

123.6

114.7

108.4

146.2

0.0

123.2

3

106.8

EOC

ACT

B

63.0

66.4

Strength of Diploma Index 73

D

47.9

53.5

67.4

69.5

0

59.6

85.5

51.8

91.4

114.2

9.2

99.6

A

116.5

110.1

110

>145

0

121.7

A

109.4

A

89.9

95.9

90.9

108.2

4.2

100.4

A

0.0

21.0

F

29.5

0

17.5

F

Grad Rate Index

Progress Points

HS SPS

92.4

3.2

86.5

74.1

0.0

68.3

126.3

Letter Grade

A

Letter Grade

Grad Rate Index

Progres s Points

HS SPS

82.8

0

71.3

C D B

Lafayette High School N. P. Moss Preparatory Academy

94.1

98.5

29.5

12.5

Northside High School

35.4

65.6

74.6

81.5

0.0

64.3

D

42.2

37.9

60.1

64.3

0

51.1

D

O. Comeaux High School

88.0

94.5

89.5

108.2

0.0

95.1

B

82.9

75.9

79.6

96.6

0

83.8

C

LPSS (High School Only)

78.0

91.1

88.0

101.8

74.2

74.2

76.7

87.6

89.7

78.2

School Letter Grades

School

Acadian Middle School Acadiana High School L.J. Alleman Middle School Alice N. Boucher Elementary School Paul Breaux Middle School Broadmoor Elementary School Broussard Middle School Carencro Middle School Carencro Heights Elementary School Carencro High School O. Comeaux High School Katharine Drexel Elementary School Duson Elementary School J.W. Faulk Elementary School Judice Middle School L. Leo Judice Elementary School Lafayette Middle School Lafayette High School Green T. Lindon Elementary School Edgar Martin Middle School Milton Elementary School S.J. Montgomery Elementary School Myrtle Place Elementary School

2016 Letter Grade

2016 Annual SPS

2015 Letter Grade

2015 Annual SPS

SPS Growth 15 to 16

D B A D A A B C D D B C C D C A D A A A A C C

55.6 86.5 112.4 57.3 102.6 109.7 90.5 76.8 58.4 68.3 95.1 84.2 71.6 55.9 79.7 109.9 63.7 109.4 111.4 105.1 108.3 82 76

C C A D A A B C D D C B D D C A D A A A B C C

69.3 71.3 112.2 46.6 100.9 101.4 89.2 72.2 58.6 59.6 83.8 92.3 64.2 45.2 73.4 107.4 56.3 100.4 102.1 100.6 98.9 80 75.2

-13.7 15.2 0.2 10.7 1.7 8.3 1.3 4.6 -0.2 8.7 11.3 -8.1 7.4 10.7 6.3 2.5 7.4 9 9.3 4.5 9.4 2 0.8

Northside High School Ossun Elementary School Plantation Elementary School Prairie Elementary School Scott Middle School Westside Elementary School Woodvale Elementary School Youngsville Middle School Ridge Elementary School Evangeline Elementary School Charles M. Burke Elementary School Ernest Gallet Elementary School Live Oak Elementary School N. P. Moss Preparatory Academy J. Wallace James Elementary School Early College Academy David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy

D C A B C C A B B C C A C F B A

64.3 77.3 100 91.1 74.6 79 110.5 98.7 90.4 80.7 71.9 100.3 76.9 19.1 93.1 123.2

D C B B C C A A B C C B C F C A

51.1 66.9 91.6 94.5 71.5 77.6 108.4 101.2 85.1 77.3 74.4 97.6 66.2 17.5 83.7 121.7

13.2 10.4 8.4 -3.4 3.1 1.4 2.1 -2.5 5.3 3.4 -2.5 2.7 10.7 1.6 9.4 1.5

A

105.6

B

99.6

6

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