May 28, 2010 -- NEW ORLEANS AND DETROIT (MICHIGAN RADIO) - For the last two weeks, we've been looking at education reform in New Orleans to see what, if anything, Detroit Public Schools might be able to learn. We looked at charter schools, special education, and teacher training, among other things.
So, for the last installment in our series, Rebuilding Detroit Schools, Michigan Radio's Jennifer Guerra and Sarah Hulett decided to turn the attention to you and answer your questions. Read article or listen to audio report
May 28, 2010 -- The embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from an independent New Orleans public school could jeopardize its lone-wolf status.
Acknowledging that it needs tighter financial controls, the nonprofit board that runs Langston Hughes Academy will vote in coming weeks on whether to hire a charter management organization, FirstLine Schools, to take over operations at the three-year-old Gentilly campus. If the board chooses FirstLine, management of the K-8 school’s finances as well as its day-to-day logistics will fall to the new operator.
Although the charter would not be transferred immediately to the new operator, FirstLine has made it clear to the current operating board, NOLA180, and the school community that its intention is to eventually absorb the school into its own board-run network. Read full article
May 28, 2010 -- BATON ROUGE, LA – This week House Bill 1033 was approved by the Louisiana Legislature and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal. The legislation, which was part of Governor Jindal’s legislative package, links the evaluations of teachers and school administrators to student growth, and specifically calls for the annual evaluation of teachers and the statewide implementation of Louisiana’s value-added assessment model by the 2012-2013 school year.
Current law requires teachers to be formally evaluated every three years, and existing performance measures are based on principal observations, peer reviews and other subjective criteria. The new law calls for student academic growth to count for 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. The remaining 50 percent will be based on traditional methods. And although other states have recently approved similar models that incorporate student growth as a factor in teacher performance ratings, Louisiana’s value-added formula will rely entirely on whether students meet predicted outcomes on statewide assessments to calculate the 50 percent student growth measure for teachers who teach tested grades and subjects, making it one of the most aggressive reform models in the nation. Read full press release
May 27, 2010 -- The percentage of fourth- and eight-graders that passed a key state test dipped this year, officials said Wednesday.
The exam, which is called LEAP, is designed to make sure students master basic skills in math and English before they are promoted to the fifth and ninth grades.
The results show that:
76 percent of fourth-graders earned passing marks in the spring test, down from 77 percent last year.
70 percent of eighth-graders got passing marks, down from 72 percent last year.
State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek cautioned against reading too much into the drop, and noted that students showed gains on other tests. Read full article
May 27, 2010 -- Watch video
May 27, 2010 -- New Orleans public schools continue to make rapid progress on standardized tests, posting among the largest gains in the state this year, according to data released Wednesday by the Louisiana Department of Education.
Meanwhile, some relatively high-performing suburban districts, such as Jefferson and St. Tammany, saw only modest gains.
State Superintendent Paul Pastorek called statewide results, which include students from third through eleventh grades taking the LEAP, iLEAP and GEE tests, "good but not great." Read full article
May 26, 2010 -- New Orleans public schools continue to make rapid progress on standardized tests, posting among the largest gains in the state this year, according to data released Wednesday by the Louisiana Department of Education.
Meanwhile, some relatively high-performing suburban districts, such as Jefferson and St. Tammany, saw only modest gains, if any. State Superintendent Paul Pastorek called statewide results, which include students from third through 11th grades taking the LEAP, iLEAP and GEE tests, "good but not great." Read full article
May 26, 2010 -- For the third consecutive year, Recovery School District students showed significant improvement in state standardized test scores, according to preliminary data released today. Overall, performance levels in the RSD’s direct-run and charter schools climbed by 6 percentage points, compared to a 1 percentage point growth overall for the state. The RSD led the state in growth from 2009-2010 as well as for the last three years.
Students in the 4th grade who took the LEAP exam for the first time passed at a rate of 58 percent this year, up from 54 percent in 2009. Since 2007, the passing rate for first time 4th grade test-takers in the RSD grew from 36 percent to 58 percent. Read full press release
May 26, 2010 -- Baton Rouge, La. – Following historic gains in 2009, today Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) officials announced a second straight year of growth in the percentage of students scoring Basic and above for all grades and subjects tested on the state’s LEAP, GEE and iLEAP assessments. While this year’s increase of one percentage point -- from 64 percent in 2009 to 65 percent in 2010 -- is modest compared to last year’s four point boost, the successive 2009 and 2010 gains are notable considering that for the three previous years the measurement of student achievement grew in total by only one percentage point, from 59 percent in 2006, to 60 percent in 2007 and 2008.
“From a historical context, the gains we made in the last two years represent real progress for our students in Louisiana. It is a tribute to the hard work of our educators, policy makers and leaders,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said. “Our districts and schools didn’t let up, and the steady gains posted this year are evidence of their effort and success. In particular, the results for our high schools are very promising. There are clearly some areas where we did not grow or we fell back. We’re already studying these with the aim of providing targeted improvement where it is needed. Clearly, we must have better results, but the overall improvements we’re seeing in our test scores this year underscore Louisiana’s continuous progress and reaffirm our direction.” Read full press release
May 26, 2010 -- Over 400 candidates seeking job opportunities attended the New Orleans New Orleans Charter Schools Certified Teacher Fair on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at the Xavier University Student Center.
“The Fair was a huge success with over 400 teachers in attendance and 43 school tables recruiting for 50 schools from New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. The fair is a wonderful way for schools to connect with qualified, certified candidates,” said Rose Peterson, Executive Director of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools that organized the event. Hundreds of interested teachers also registered online and came with their resume in hand to be interviewed.
Principals and administrators conducted on-site interviews at the Teacher Fair and shared information about the benefits of working at charter schools, said Peterson. Teachers and aspiring teachers brought their resume, teaching certificate, references and any other relevant information for immediate consideration. Read full article
