zoeyann
05-15-2006, 09:08 AM
Only 56% of the 8th graders in Terrebonne passed the LEAP test. My daughter was not one of them. 42 out of 116 at my daughters school failed. One of them is in GT. What really gets my goat is as it states in the following article they raised the standards and made the test harder this year. HOW could they do this to these kids. No wonder the scores are so low. After the year they had, the amount of school missed, and lets consider that for weeks after Rita they spent instructional time at my daughter's school signing up children for assistence and counsoling kids lossing more time, but with all of this already working against them they made it harder. The teachers also told the kids that it did not matter if they passed because they would wavier it due to the storms before they took the test. They did not waive any requirements. These kids still have to go to summer school and retake the test to be promoted; how can adults tell stuff like that to kids. The real kicker is even though you would expect the kids in the bayou areas to do poorly because they flooded summer school is being offered in Houma not down the bayou. OH, one more thing, Friday was a reward day in school for reaching certain goals. They called the kids away from their reward to tell them they failed. They could have sent a note home in a sealed envelope instead of hurting the kids this way. My daughter said kids were checking out because they were crying so hard. And they called them to the office one at a time so everyone in the school knows who failed. That is embaressing. My daughter was one who reached her goals so when I got home she has a medal around her neck with her Leap paper in her hand and was crying her eyes out. So it's like great job here is a medal oh by the way you failed and you will be stuck on a cheese wagon to go to a school 15 miles away in 90 degree heat, oh well good job anyway and enjoy your summer. WTF are these people thinking. They don't have better sense than that, but they are teaching. NO WONDER THESE KIDS ARE DOING SO BAD.
Insane spiteful rant over. Here is the article
May 13. 2006 1:23AM
LEAP performance scores dip in Terrebonne, Lafourche
By DAVID JACOBS and MIKA EDWARDS
Staff Writers
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HOUMA -- Both Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes dipped in overall LEAP performance scores this year, meaning more students will be spending the first half of their summer vacation in summer school.
Student scores on the math and English portions of the standardized test are down across the board in Terrebonne and Lafourche public schools, records released Thursday by the state Education Department show.
In Lafourche, 69 percent of fourth-graders and 61 percent of eighth-graders passed the annual test. In Terrebonne, 65 percent of fourth-graders and 56 percent of eighth-graders passed.
The results show a decline in both grade levels for the two neighboring parishes. Last year, about 71 percent of fourth- and eighth-grade students in both Lafourche and Terrebonne who took the LEAP test in the spring passed.
Despite the overall decline, state education officials described students’ performance on the latest round of standardized tests as "excellent," especially when considering the school disruptions caused by last year’s hurricanes.
However, officials cautioned that gains at the state level could be misleading, since many students from low-performing schools didn’t take the tests this year.
"While it is easy to look at this year’s scores and say we have improved, the real story is more complicated," said Leslie Jacobs, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education vice president, in a statement released Friday with the scores.
Jacobs said 20,166 fewer students took the LEAP and Graduate Exit Examination tests this year. Many of those students were from low-performing districts.
LEAP tests are given to all fourth- and eighth-graders in public schools, while the GEE tests are taken for the first time by 10th- and 11th-graders.
Traditionally, students must pass the LEAP either in the spring or in summer school to be promoted to the next grade. However, BESE suspended the high-stakes policy for this year because of disturbances caused by the hurricanes.
Six school districts suspended testing completely, not counting charter schools, while 46, including Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, kept the tests but changed the high-stakes requirement.
Terrebonne will consider promoting students who fail the LEAP on a case-by-case basis, while Lafourche will require such students to attend summer school and re-test but will not hold them back.
High school students must still pass the GEE to graduate, although they get several chances to do so.
Statewide, 72 percent of fourth-graders testing for the first time passed the LEAP test in 2006, compared to 71 percent in 2005, BESE reported.
BESE said 65 percent of Louisiana eighth-graders passed the LEAP based on new, tougher standards implemented this year. Under old standards, 78 percent of eighth-graders passed, compared to 74 percent in 2005.
Because BESE waived the high-stakes testing policy for fourth- and eighth-graders this year, the standard for promotion will vary by district, Jacobs said.
On the GEE, first-time test-takers statewide showed improvement in English, math and social studies, but saw a slight decline in science, state officials said.
The state reported 13 percent of high school students recording an "unsatisfactory" or failing score on the English portion of the GEE, 18 percent failing math, 17 percent in science and 16 percent in social studies.
Lafourche reported 12 percent unsatisfactory performance in English at the high-school level, 16 percent in math, 14 percent in science and 15 percent in social studies.
Numbers for first-time GEE testers in Terrebonne were unavailable at press time.
Students must pass English, math, and either science or social studies to be eligible for graduation.
Students get seven chances to pass the English and math portions of the GEE and four times to pass the science and social studies portion.
Among those retested in Lafourche, 59 percent scored unsatisfactory in English, 70 percent in math, 91 percent in science and 95 in social studies.
Terrebonne’s retesters failed at rates of 64 percent in English, 69 percent in math, 86 percent in science and 81 percent in social studies.
Statewide, the numbers were 64 percent in English, 65 percent in math, 76 percent in science and 70 percent in social studies.
Julie Bourgeois, who supervises testing for Lafourche Parish schools, said she was pleased that Lafourche students’ performance "was pretty much right on target with state performance."
"The state scores reflect growth, and we’re neck and neck with the state," Bourgeois said.
One concern Bourgeois noted was that 16 percent of Lafourche eighth-graders posted an "unsatisfactory" score on the English portion of the test, compared to only 11 percent statewide.
Lafourche Parish Schools spokesman Floyd Benoit said the system strives to be better than the state average. He said that by Monday, administrators would have a better idea of what areas they need to focus on to reach that goal.
Terrebonne officials, though not thrilled with the dip in overall passing students, say that with the year that the students have had lower test scores were anticipated.
"We’ve been dealing with many issues, even though hurricanes are a distant memory for a lot of people, the memory still lingers," said Terrebonne Parish Assistant Superintendent Philip Martin.
With all the disruptions students have had to face at the beginning of the school year with two hurricanes, Martin said, it’s been a difficult time for students.
At one point following Hurricane Katrina, the Terrebonne Parish School System took in 1,100 displaced students. The number has since dipped well below 1,000, but Martin said he’s not sure of the exact enrollment since the total is a "moving target."
"Considering all those things, we did pretty good," he said. "We were pleasantly surprised. … It’s been a trying year. A lot of kids are still not back in their houses, and many kids had multiple moves."
What the test results mean is just less than 1,200 fourth- and eighth-grade students in Terrebonne Parish will be attending summer school this year, up from 877 last year.
Martin said that while 1,200 students qualify for summer school, that does not mean all will attend.
The increase in students who have been flagged to retest next month was expected, Martin said, due to the stricter standards imposed on eighth-grade students.
"That was anticipated," he said. "It was not a shock to anyone."
School-by-school LEAP test results will be made public after summer scores are tallied in August.
To help boost numbers next year, Martin said school officials are working on a new after-school-tutoring program that will focus on math and English. The tutoring, which would not be required but encouraged, would also provide transportation for participating students.
"It would be the first time we did such an ambitious program," he said.
"We would try and make this a program that kids don’t dread," Martin said. "That’s our goal."
Insane spiteful rant over. Here is the article
May 13. 2006 1:23AM
LEAP performance scores dip in Terrebonne, Lafourche
By DAVID JACOBS and MIKA EDWARDS
Staff Writers
Advertisement
HOUMA -- Both Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes dipped in overall LEAP performance scores this year, meaning more students will be spending the first half of their summer vacation in summer school.
Student scores on the math and English portions of the standardized test are down across the board in Terrebonne and Lafourche public schools, records released Thursday by the state Education Department show.
In Lafourche, 69 percent of fourth-graders and 61 percent of eighth-graders passed the annual test. In Terrebonne, 65 percent of fourth-graders and 56 percent of eighth-graders passed.
The results show a decline in both grade levels for the two neighboring parishes. Last year, about 71 percent of fourth- and eighth-grade students in both Lafourche and Terrebonne who took the LEAP test in the spring passed.
Despite the overall decline, state education officials described students’ performance on the latest round of standardized tests as "excellent," especially when considering the school disruptions caused by last year’s hurricanes.
However, officials cautioned that gains at the state level could be misleading, since many students from low-performing schools didn’t take the tests this year.
"While it is easy to look at this year’s scores and say we have improved, the real story is more complicated," said Leslie Jacobs, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education vice president, in a statement released Friday with the scores.
Jacobs said 20,166 fewer students took the LEAP and Graduate Exit Examination tests this year. Many of those students were from low-performing districts.
LEAP tests are given to all fourth- and eighth-graders in public schools, while the GEE tests are taken for the first time by 10th- and 11th-graders.
Traditionally, students must pass the LEAP either in the spring or in summer school to be promoted to the next grade. However, BESE suspended the high-stakes policy for this year because of disturbances caused by the hurricanes.
Six school districts suspended testing completely, not counting charter schools, while 46, including Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, kept the tests but changed the high-stakes requirement.
Terrebonne will consider promoting students who fail the LEAP on a case-by-case basis, while Lafourche will require such students to attend summer school and re-test but will not hold them back.
High school students must still pass the GEE to graduate, although they get several chances to do so.
Statewide, 72 percent of fourth-graders testing for the first time passed the LEAP test in 2006, compared to 71 percent in 2005, BESE reported.
BESE said 65 percent of Louisiana eighth-graders passed the LEAP based on new, tougher standards implemented this year. Under old standards, 78 percent of eighth-graders passed, compared to 74 percent in 2005.
Because BESE waived the high-stakes testing policy for fourth- and eighth-graders this year, the standard for promotion will vary by district, Jacobs said.
On the GEE, first-time test-takers statewide showed improvement in English, math and social studies, but saw a slight decline in science, state officials said.
The state reported 13 percent of high school students recording an "unsatisfactory" or failing score on the English portion of the GEE, 18 percent failing math, 17 percent in science and 16 percent in social studies.
Lafourche reported 12 percent unsatisfactory performance in English at the high-school level, 16 percent in math, 14 percent in science and 15 percent in social studies.
Numbers for first-time GEE testers in Terrebonne were unavailable at press time.
Students must pass English, math, and either science or social studies to be eligible for graduation.
Students get seven chances to pass the English and math portions of the GEE and four times to pass the science and social studies portion.
Among those retested in Lafourche, 59 percent scored unsatisfactory in English, 70 percent in math, 91 percent in science and 95 in social studies.
Terrebonne’s retesters failed at rates of 64 percent in English, 69 percent in math, 86 percent in science and 81 percent in social studies.
Statewide, the numbers were 64 percent in English, 65 percent in math, 76 percent in science and 70 percent in social studies.
Julie Bourgeois, who supervises testing for Lafourche Parish schools, said she was pleased that Lafourche students’ performance "was pretty much right on target with state performance."
"The state scores reflect growth, and we’re neck and neck with the state," Bourgeois said.
One concern Bourgeois noted was that 16 percent of Lafourche eighth-graders posted an "unsatisfactory" score on the English portion of the test, compared to only 11 percent statewide.
Lafourche Parish Schools spokesman Floyd Benoit said the system strives to be better than the state average. He said that by Monday, administrators would have a better idea of what areas they need to focus on to reach that goal.
Terrebonne officials, though not thrilled with the dip in overall passing students, say that with the year that the students have had lower test scores were anticipated.
"We’ve been dealing with many issues, even though hurricanes are a distant memory for a lot of people, the memory still lingers," said Terrebonne Parish Assistant Superintendent Philip Martin.
With all the disruptions students have had to face at the beginning of the school year with two hurricanes, Martin said, it’s been a difficult time for students.
At one point following Hurricane Katrina, the Terrebonne Parish School System took in 1,100 displaced students. The number has since dipped well below 1,000, but Martin said he’s not sure of the exact enrollment since the total is a "moving target."
"Considering all those things, we did pretty good," he said. "We were pleasantly surprised. … It’s been a trying year. A lot of kids are still not back in their houses, and many kids had multiple moves."
What the test results mean is just less than 1,200 fourth- and eighth-grade students in Terrebonne Parish will be attending summer school this year, up from 877 last year.
Martin said that while 1,200 students qualify for summer school, that does not mean all will attend.
The increase in students who have been flagged to retest next month was expected, Martin said, due to the stricter standards imposed on eighth-grade students.
"That was anticipated," he said. "It was not a shock to anyone."
School-by-school LEAP test results will be made public after summer scores are tallied in August.
To help boost numbers next year, Martin said school officials are working on a new after-school-tutoring program that will focus on math and English. The tutoring, which would not be required but encouraged, would also provide transportation for participating students.
"It would be the first time we did such an ambitious program," he said.
"We would try and make this a program that kids don’t dread," Martin said. "That’s our goal."