Study gives state F for achievement

Louisiana got an F for public education achievement Thursday for the third consecutive year in an annual study done by Education Week magazine.

However, better grades in other areas allowed the state to finish 15th in the nation in the rankings, up from 23rd last year and 44th in 2008.

The review, which is called Quality Counts, assigns grades to each state in six areas, including academic performance, standards and assessments and teacher quality.

Louisiana got an overall grade of C+ for the third consecutive year.

Maryland was rated tops in the nation with a grade of B+.

The next top-scoring states are Massachusetts, New York and Virginia. South Dakota finished last.

The failing mark in student achievement here has set off alarm bells in education circles in the past.

In 2011 then state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek called the grade “a clear wake-up call for those who insist there is no crisis in public education in Louisiana.”

In a prepared statement, state leaders on Thursday stressed the positive parts of the report, including an A for education standards, assessments and accountability and an A for aligning early childhood education with training for college and careers.

The state got a C- in the category of chances for success for children; a B- in teacher quality and a C for education equity and spending levels.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a prepared statement that the survey shows the state’s education system “has gone from almost rock-bottom to No. 15 in the country.”

State Superintendent of Education John White said in a news release that the report shows that all levels of government are committed to improving public education.

“However, it also encourages us to renew our efforts to ensure all students are on the path to college or a career,” White said of results of the study.

The ratings for student achievement typically include a review of 18 indicators, including gains in the classroom, poverty-based disparities and how fourth- and eighth-graders fared in math and reading on what is known as the nation’s report card.

Comments

1) Comment by JohnBoy.White - 12/01/2013

Most of the commenters below simply do not understand what we are trying to do at the State Department of Education. We are trying to ensure that the private enterprise system this nation was founded on is able to work effectively in the realm of education. At the end of the day, what matters is that parents have choice. You should all realize that school scores and letter grades are just a means to that end. Quit trying to outthink us up here. We have top-notch consultants (and no, I shall not be naming them, since they are part of the deliberative process) who are giving us guidance in how to muddy the narrative. Thank you. I love teachers. I once pretended to be one.

2) Comment by civitasiveritas - 11/01/2013

@troygautreau: You missed the deeper point within the text of the story. It is the reformers, John White, Jindal and the ABC crowd that has always said it was the achievement that mattered. Not what the "adults" were doing. NO, it was the achievement of the students that was the only important measure. Louisiana's students were actually improving on the National Assessment of Educational Progress a lot faster BEFORE the arrival of Jindal Pastorek, and John White and all of the reforms. Now, they want to change the measures of what counts. See the comments by @Noel Hammatt and his articles at Harvard University. The reformers would have you believe that by changing the policies and procedures of adults that they have fixed the problem. The problem in Louisiana is poverty. Not policies, and it certainly will not (and is not) be fixed by these reformers and the ones pulling their strings. In the RSD and in the other schools run by the state, nearly every student is in a school rated F. If the media told the real story, we would run White and the rest of his highly paid children out of the Department of Education and out of the state!

3) Comment by troygautreau - 11/01/2013

Funny how the headline focuses on an "F" in one category, while there are many other positive categories could have made the headline. Louisiana has a lot of work to do for public education however there has been a lot of good work accomplished. Moving from 23rd to 15 out of 50 states, an "A" in accountability, an A in education standards, an A in aligning early childhood educations standards, and a "B" in teacher quality. How many times you have read where public education is always at the bottom of the list of everything. Can we not acknowledge what we have accomplished, while still realizing we have work to do? Oh no I forgot we cannot do this because that would discredit all of the teacher and local school board bashing and blame game that has been going on.

4) Comment by Doll2000 - 11/01/2013

I agree with the person who says you will never fully understand what is going on in ed. today unliess you actually TEACH! The powers that be want to Raise the standards and some students haven't met some of the lowest standards for years! You cannot force people to be on levels that they are not on. That is not saying the students can't learn. They are just So far behind!! Somebody needs to wake up! I also would like for someone to explain to me how a TEACHER is suppose to make sure students perform well on standardized test unless she looks at the answer booklets! I gave the LEAP and iLEAP for years. Does the public know that the State Dept of ED does not send monitors in each class room. The monitors are chosen by the school district and they just walk around during testing.!! People can and Do cheat when giving standardized test in this parish!! For the record I never did cause I was afraid the students would tell, I would get caught LOL and I did not want to lose my job and lastly I was raised with ETHICS!!! Just saying don't believe all the wonderful test scores in EBR parish!!

5) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 11/01/2013

I am giving The Advocate, and Will Sentell, a standing ovation! @Ovation, you totally missed it. You know I have openly criticized Sentell many times in the past. I basically argued that his reporting had a pattern that gave clear credence to the claims of the reformers over the facts about the schools and the realities of teaching and learning in Louisiana. I often claimed that he appeared to be "anti-public education." This current piece is NOT, as you claim, in any way evidence that he is anti-public education. Instead, (and please realize that Sentell does not provide the headline) this piece is a clear indication that he actually read the report, and did not simply "parrot the press release" from the State Department of Education. (Google "Hammatt Harvard Parrot" to better understand this terminology) Will Sentell, in this article, is actually doing the job he is paid to do, which is neither to "promote" the agenda of the "reformers" nor "promote" public education. It is instead to present the facts as best he can ascertain them. Can you speak to anything in the article that is not factual? In the second sentence he mentions the gains in other areas. What I find truly fascinating is that we have an excellent example of just how fast the "reformers" have shifted attention away from the students in the classroom (and their achievement) and to the work of the "adults" in the surreal world of the "reformers." We are now to ignore student achievement and focus on THE REFORMS. Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y? (Google "Hammatt Harvard Shifting Standards") to see my piece about how the reformers are forced to shift from the standards they use to attack public education, once they are running schools. Prescient, if I do say so myself.

6) Comment by Being_Stupid - 11/01/2013

Need to convert to Voucher System now! These Government Micromanaged Schools and Union Monopolies on Taxpayer money for funding Public Education is not working.

7) Comment by Scrooge - 10/01/2013

A's "for education standards, assessments and accountability"? So that means Louisiana is real good at reporting how bad it is?

8) Comment by squiggly - 10/01/2013

@1ryben - There were different grades assigned for various categories included in the study. Anyway, I would take any study/stats with a teaspoon of salt and pepper. As long as there is high poverty in the state, student test scores will be low. Test scores reflect the income level of the students, not how well the teachers teach or how well parents parent.

9) Comment by melbaback - 10/01/2013

Audrey. if you think Juan`s comment is shocking, yesterday I picked up a gorgeous Renault 5 since getting a check for $4082 this- past/four weeks and-just over, 10k last munth. this is really the best-work I've ever had. I actually started 10-months ago and almost straight away began to earn over $80 per-hour. I follow this website,.-=-=-=- BIT40.COM -=-=-=-

10) Comment by 1ryben - 10/01/2013

Do Louisiana schools rank an A or an F? Which is it? Or, is all of these ratings, including those from our own DOE just a ruse to promote a certain agenda...hmmm.

11) Comment by spqr - 10/01/2013

Unless you teach you will NEVER understand what is really going on. Between the Advocate and politicians you will never know.

12) Comment by 1ryben - 10/01/2013

@NewsReader, maybe your conclusion that "we're terrible in education" is not the most accurate assumption. I assure you I do not believe all is roses and rainbows but it may not be all doom and gloom neither.

13) Comment by NewsReader - 10/01/2013

Concerned_Parent, yup that pretty much sums it up. And I'd like to stress the B- average they awarded the teachers is right up there with everywhere else: http://www.edweek.org/media/qualitycounts2012_release.pdf

14) Comment by ovation - 10/01/2013

Mr. Sentell, you are obviously stating your bias here with this article. I had read before that you were 'anit-public education' and I had my doubts. But with this article...well what can I say... Your headline is Ed Week give La schools an F for achievement, yet you bury the success public education has made halfway into the article. "...state leaders on Thursday stressed the positive parts of the report, including an “A” for education standards, assessments and accountability and an “A” for aligning early childhood education with training for college and careers." Also, La moved up to 15 in the nation from 23rd and that is from a start of ranking 44th!!! That is a gain of 8 in one year!! Please next time try to at least make it a little less obvious. .

15) Comment by Concerned_Parent - 10/01/2013

So, this report says that our teachers a pretty good, but students still aren't learning or retaining what they have learned. C in "equity and spending" and C in "chances for success". Neither of those are controlled by teachers. This report seems to point out that the state isn't doing it's job, and that parents are not ensuring that their children are performing to the best of their abilities. The teachers are teaching, but there is no reinforcemnt outside the classroom.

16) Comment by NewsReader - 10/01/2013

And this right after that report that had us listed along with FL as being the top in the Nation. Sure shows what we should think of all these "reports". They can sugarcoat it as much as they want, we're terrible in education. Nationwide.

17) Comment by geb - 10/01/2013

If student achievement gets an F do the other categories matter? Isn't the goal of an education system student achievement? You can't force students to learn if they refuse. Students put forth no effort and fail, then teachers are blamed. I was once told I didn't do enough to "engage" students in my math class who were 3 and 4 years behind. They can put in all the curiculum changes and higher standards they want, but if parents aren't able to convince their children that the hard work required to get a good education is worth it, the curiculum, etc. won't matter.