Avoyelles School District maintains 'C' on district performance report

It’s called a “school report card” -- a measure of how well each school, and the district overall, on how well the students are learning.

For Avoyelles Parish’s public school system, the news was a mixed bag. Five schools improved, five declined and the district overall dropped 2.1 points but remained a ‘C’ district. APSD Superintendent Blaine Dauzat reported those scores publicly at the School Board’s meeting on Nov. 7.

Avoyelles’ numerical score dropped from 73.6 to 71.5, but Dauzat said he is “pleased we were able to keep a ‘C” score after being a ‘D’ for so many years.

“We had schools show very positive increases, like Marksville Elementary, but we had schools like Bunkie Elementary who had very disappointing scores,” he added.

One of the best items of good news was LaSAS holding its “A” rating, improving two points from 112.5 to 114.5 -- the highest score among the district’s 10 schools.

“We attribute the increase to the hard work of the faculty and administration at LaSAS,” Dauzat said. “However, we do acknowledge that LaSAS has some advantages that other schools don’t.” LaSAS is a charter school operating under the direction and control of the School Board.

The biggest and most pleasant surprise was Marksville Elementary’s 19.5-point jump, which raised it from an “F” to a “C” school. MES had the largest improvement of the district’s schools.

“Wow, what a jump by Marksville Elementary to go up two letter grades,” Dauzat said. “Their hard work and dedication of everyone at the school was very pleasing.”

On the other end of the grading scale, the parish still has two elementary schools with an “F” rating -- Bunkie Elementary and Riverside Elementary.

FIVE UP, FIVE DOWN

Dauzat said five schools improved over last year’s results and five declined.

The state handed out two grading scales in 2017, one for high schools and one for elementary schools.

The high school “school report card” grading scale gives an “A” to any score over 100, “B” to 85-99.9, “C” to 70-84.9, “D” to 50-69.9 and an “F” to those 49.9 and below.

Avoyelles High improved 3.6 points to remain a “C” school, improving its score from 74.8 to 78.4. It is the highest-scoring “traditional” high school in the parish.

Bunkie Magnet High remained a “D” school, but showed the second-highest increase with an 8.7-point improvement. The school went from 57.7 in 2016 to 66.4 in 2017. Marksville High declined 2.7 points but remained a “D” school, dropping from 68.5 last year to 65.8 in this report.

The elementary “school report card” grading scale gives an “A” to a score of 100 or above, “B” to 83.4-99.9, “C” to 63.3-83.3, “D” to 42.5-63.2 and an “F” to any score below 42.4. Lafargue Elementary kept its “B” rating with a score of 94.3, which was an increase of 6.8 points from 87.5 in 2016.

Plaucheville Elementary lost a letter grade, falling from a “C” to a “D” due to a 10.2-point decline, which was the second-biggest loss in the parish.

Cottonport Elementary dropped 4 points, barely keeping its “D” status at 44.5.

Riverside Elementary slipped from a “D” to an “F” by 0.3 points when its score dropped from 48.4 to 42.2.

Bunkie Elementary Learning Academy (BELA) was an “F” last year and dropped another 10.8 points, which is the biggest decline in the school system. It had a 38.8 score in 2016 and 28.0 in the 2017 report card.

“We were surprised how many points BELA lost again this year,” Dauzat said. “We have a new principal in place and she is working on several things to help the school, including an emphasis on literacy in the early grades.”

None of the schools are in danger of the state “taking over” their operation, Dauzat said. A school must be an “F” for six years before the state will step in. 

BELA is the only one of the schools that has been an “F” for two years in a row.

Dauzat said the district “will be working to help all the schools, but especially” the lower-performing schools.

OTHER FACTORS

Test scores are not the only factor in measuring school performance scores, Dauzat noted. Progress points are given by the Department of Education to reward districts that made a certain level of progress in bringing “non-proficient” students closer to proficiency on the state assessment tests.

These “extra credit” points are given even if a high number of a school’s students score “non-proficient” on the state tests. A school can be given up to 10 “progress points.”

Dauzat said six of the 10 schools received progress points. LaSAS  received 10 points, MES had 9.6 points, LES received 7.7, RES received 4.4, PES got 3.4 points and AHS got 3 points.

Dauzat said the district still has a lot of work to do.

“Yes, I’m pleased that we increased our score by 12 points in 2016 but only dropped two points in 2017,” Dauzat said. “This is the first time we were able to keep a ‘C’ grade for two years in a row. Every other time we had a ‘C’ we dropped back to a ‘D’ the next year. We are going to continue to focus on those things we can control -- teaching the state-aligned curriculum, improving classroom discipline, and things like that.”