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Schools ride success wave
Franklin Parish school students, boosted by test improvements in all grade levels, are riding the wave of success touted across the state by officials as proof of "exceptional progress" in Louisiana's public education system.
While state officials claim recent test results show the "broadest improvements" throughout the state, Franklin Parish School Superintendent Lanny Johnson said local scores increased "significantly" with more students, "achieving scores of advanced and mastery than ever before."
"Scores improved across all grade levels with only two areas showing a very slight decline," said Johnson in a statement following last week's release of student scores.
Johnson pointed to improvements in high school graduate exit examination scores, improvement in eighth grade LEAP scores, sixth grade iLEAP scores and third grade iLeap scores as leading examples of progress made locally.
"We congratulate our students and teachers for their achievements and recognize them for their diligent efforts," Johnson said. "We also commend administrators, all instructional staff and parents for their hard work."
"Last year, a major area of concern was sixth grade iLEAP scores. This year our sixth grade scores increased tremendously.
"For students scoring "proficient" English/Language Arts scores increased by 23 percent, math increased by 19 percent, science increased by 18 percent and social studies increased by 19 percent.
At the high school level, each of the four testing areas show improvement.
Students scoring at the "basic" level or higher improved 16 percent in English/Language Arts; 22 percent in math; 15 percent in science and five percent in social studies.
A total of 73 percent of Franklin Parish eighth graders met promotional standards, meaning they could move to the next grade. This is one point higher than the state average and higher than 33 other parishes.
Third grade students achieved a 20 percent increase over last year in math scores, a category and level which caused past concern to officials.
While officials are able to point to increases in percentages as measures of improvement, statistics invite other observations.
For example, in the areas tested at FPHS in the 2007-08 school year, more students were failing than passing in each category.
In the most recent tests, more students are passing than failing in all but one category, social studies.
Social studies are broadly defined as a combination of subjects such as history, civics, geography and economics which are needed to help a student understand citizenship opportunities and requirements. |
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