Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish students fell behind the state LEAP results for scoring at the Basic and above level, according to results reported at the School Board’s Academic Committee meeting.
The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program tests are given in the spring in grades 3 through 8 in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
The district and state scores for all but social studies were presented to the committee on Tuesday in Opelousas by Trina Preston, supervisor of instruction, school choice and school improvement.
St. Landry Parish students showed their best in English language arts and at lower grade levels in all areas.
Hazel Sias, an Opelousas area Board member, said, “I noticed they pass fifth grade and things begin to go down” she said in reference to math and science scores.
Preston said math scores declined statewide.
More teachers in the lower grade levels are certified in math in the lower grades compared to the higher grades as a reason for the better scores in the early grades, she said.
Students are graded as Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic and Unsatisfactory.
Test results include the following for students scoring Basic and above.
English language arts:
— Third grade, 69 percent, state, 67 percent, parish.
— Fourth grade, 72 percent, state; 70 percent, parish.
— Fifth grade, 72 percent, state; 70 percent, parish.
— Sixth grade, 65 percent, state; 64 percent, parish.
— Seventh grade, 68 percent, state; 64 percent, parish.
— Eighth grade, 71 percent, state; 65 percent, parish.
Mathematics:
— Third grade, 70 percent, state; 67 percent, parish.
— Fourth grade, 69 percent, state; 60 percent, parish.
— Fifth grade, 64 percent, state; 53 percent, parish.
— Sixth grade, 57 percent, state; 51 percent, parish.
— Seventh grade, 60 percent, state; 48 percent, parish.
— Eighth grade, 52 percent, state; 46 percent, parish.
Science:
— Third grade, 68 percent, state; 64 percent, parish.
— Fourth grade, 67 percent, state; 61 percent, parish.
— Fifth grade, 64 percent, state; 54 percent, parish.
— Sixth grade, 66 percent, state; 57 percent, parish.
— Seventh grade, 66 percent, state; 54 percent, parish.
— Eighth grade, 61 percent, state; 48 percent, parish.
Preston also presented a comparison of results from the 2016 and 2017 tests.
In science, 64 percent scored Basic or better in 2017, a 4 point increase. But in eighth grade, the percentage scoring at Basic or above dropped from 54 percent to 48 percent.
In mathematics, 67 percent of the third-graders scored at Basic or above in 2017 compared to 68 percent in 2016. In eighth grade 46 percent scored Basic or above in 2017 compared to 54 percent in 2016.
In English language arts, 67 percent of the third-graders scored Basic or above in 2017, a sharp rise from 54 percent in 2016. Sixty-five percent of the eighth-graders scored Basic or above in 2017, down from 79 percent in 2016.
Scott Moreau, coordinator of math, said math and science skills are built year-by-year.
“What we want and what we need is to build the capacity of teachers at grade levels,” he said.
‘Content is very dependent on the ability of teachers,” he said.
The scores were only for the district and Moreau said, “Every individual school has a story to tell. Some schools had tremendous grains, Some had decreases. Whenever you look at the the reasons behind that decrease there was a teacher change. Maybe they went from a really qualified person to someone who is brand new,” he said.
The LEAP results have to be viewed on a school-by-school basis, he said.
Students have to be broken into small groups in the classrooms to address deficiencies, he said.
Superintendent Patrick Jenkins said the district is adjusting how it uses instructional specialists at the elementary school level to provide support for teachers and students.
“We are making some adjustments in curriculums,” he added.
Angela Cassimre, supervisor of instruction, school choice and school improvement, said work is underway on a better system for student intervention.