Addressing the issue of failing schools
Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Evaluating the true effectiveness of any public school can be tricky. Some schools can have a good overall performance, yet have issues with certain groups of students or overall behavior.
It’s important to make sure any student subgroup that isn’t performing well doesn’t slip through the cracks. Louisiana’s most recent results of public school performance points out specific problem areas to ensure that doesn’t happen.
John White, state education superintendent, announced last week that 44 percent of the state’s public schools, 571 to be exact, are in need of improvement.
That percentage sounds bad. However, Louisiana schools have actually seen improvement since 2011.
At that time, 44 percent of schools received a “D” or “F” rating — a figure so jarring it brought along major education reforms backed by former Gov. Bobby Jindal and approved by the Legislature in 2012.
So, what’s the difference with the most recent figures? For starters, the current percentage of “D” and “F” schools is 23 percent. Plus, state standards are tougher now than they were in 2011.
The focus lies more on 300 schools that experienced issues with student subgroups, such as African-American students or those with disabilities, or discipline problems. White said not much action was taken to address certain subgroups of students in the past.
Schools shouldn’t simply be viewed on the whole when it comes to performance. Every aspect should be scrutinized to fix problem areas.
Another factor to consider is Louisiana continuing to raise its standards on major tests from “basic” to “mastery.” Setting more rigorous standards holds these schools more accountable in terms of performance.
Plenty of work remains to address failing schools, especially those with an “F” grade for at least two years running.
With this recent evaluation, Louisiana’s public schools can’t simply use their top-performing students to mask others who are having trouble in the classroom.
It’s important to have fairness in these evaluations so these schools can address the problems that may be holding them back from a better score.
