[StBernard] Quality Counts ranks Louisiana education 21st in the nation

[Westley Annis]

Quality Counts ranks Louisiana education 21st in the nation

BATON ROUGE - The good news in the 2008 edition of Quality Counts is that Louisiana's strategies to improve the quality of education in our state are considered to be high caliber - in some cases the highest caliber - when compared to other states in the nation. Louisiana's Standards, Assessments and Accountability Program is ranked number two in the United States, according to the report released by Education Week, the nation's foremost K-12 education magazine. The state's effort to improve Teacher Quality ranks number five among the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Overall, the public education policy strategy in Louisiana ranks 21st in the nation. 

However, the bad news is that although academic achievement in our state has dramatically improved over time, our academic achievement still ranks near the bottom when compared to other states, a fact that had already become apparent to the Louisiana Department of Education in the last year. 

For the second year, Quality Counts determined a Chance for Success Index that calculates the odds of success for a child in 13 key benchmarks from birth to adulthood. Not surprisingly, because more than 60% of the public school population is poor and because of other difficult environmental factors, our ranking on The Chance for Success is 50th in the nation.

This year, that Index is included in the overall grade for each state. The magazine also greatly revised previous indicators and added two new ones. 

In Standards, Assessments, and Accountability, seven states, including Louisiana, earned an "A" in 2007. The state's score of 95.8 ranked second in the nation behind Indiana. Louisiana had previously achieved a number one ranking in Standards and Accountability in 2006.

Louisiana's teacher quality efforts earned the state a "B," as it tied with Georgia. Only Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas and South Carolina ranked ahead of Louisiana. In 2005 and 2006, Louisiana ranked number one in Teacher Quality efforts. 

States were evaluated in four major policy areas: Standards, Assessments and Accountability; The Teaching Profession; Transitions and Alignment; and Finance. They were also evaluated on K-12 Achievement and the Chance for Success Index. Louisiana ranked no less than 25th in the nation in policy efforts; however, it ranked 47th in the nation for student achievement and 50th in The Chance for Success. 

"By truly putting education first during my administration, we have invested in Louisiana's future, and today's report shows our work is taking hold," said Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. "Such information helps guide us as we continue our progress and allows us to focus on areas still needing improvement. This means moving beyond education. Our success in adding quality jobs and training our workforce will continue to improve the areas holding us back-this work must continue. But overall, this positive report card indicates we are on the right track; that by reforming our systems, expanding opportunities and valuing our educators, we are ensuring a brighter future for our young citizens. Ranking 21st in the nation is an achievement our teachers, students, administrators and our whole state can celebrate," said Blanco.

"On one hand, I am extremely proud of our state because we are leading the way in the development of high quality policies that are effective at driving effective reform," said State Superintendent of Education Paul G. Pastorek. "I am also proud that these policies have driven a steady rise in academic achievement. On the other hand, this report confirms what we already know - as compared to other states, our steady and positive improvement of academic achievement simply isn't enough. Further, the report validates the BESE view that we must significantly revamp our efforts to improve implementations of these strategies in order to increase student achievement across the state and begin to compare more favorably to other states," said Pastorek "It is clear that implementation of our highly recognized, quality policies adopted by BESE are undercut by two major things:

1. Inadequate capacity of the education system to respond to the heavy burden created by so many poor people who are being educated in our schools and
2. Lack of strategies to bring high performing students back to public schools.

"Much needs to be done to support the many schools across the state that are still struggling. The State Department of Education must change and become a more meaningful source of technical support so that schools can implement the high quality policy that the state has adopted. This is why our team is committing Department staff and resources to work directly with the lowest performing schools across our state," said Pastorek. "We are beginning to change what we are doing so that we can really help schools succeed.

"We have paired schools showing consistent improvement with those that score below the state average so that they can share the strategies that have most helped their students to succeed," said Pastorek. "We are sending trained school reform consultants into these schools along with Department staff to form a web of support so these schools can be more effective at raising student achievements as quickly as possible, even this year, and learn what we need to know to develop a more long-term strategy."

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Linda Johnson said, "To be ranked in the top five in the nation in two important categories is outstanding, but we must continue to do everything we can to improve student achievement. I am particularly excited about our planned efforts to build the quality of instruction in literacy and mathematics. With a combination of support from the Department and grants to help implement proven best practices, I believe we are developing an initiative that will make a big difference in classrooms across the state."

In the area of Transitions and Alignment, Louisiana received a "C" and ranked 19 out of 51 in the nation; in Finance, the state received a "C+" and a ranking of 25. In two categories, Louisiana received a lower-than-average grade - Louisiana received a "D+" and ranked 50th in The Chance for Success Index and earned a "D-" with a ranking of 47 for K-12 Achievement. 

"The Chance for Success Index is partially based on family income, the education levels and the employment history of the parents of our students," said Deputy Superintendent of Education Ollie 
Tyler. "It's difficult to have an impact on those indicators, but our overall score shows that we are making headway despite the real challenge of poverty in our state. It is up to us to help break that cycle, and we are determined to see that happen," said Tyler. 

Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie said, "While our specific scores in the Quality Counts report vary somewhat from previous years - particularly where the report has been reconfigured - Louisiana's overall performance continues to be encouraging. Significantly, we remain among the leaders in both The Teaching Profession and Standards, Assessments and Accountability, areas where much of our reform effort has been focused. As we continue to progress in these areas, we will realize our most important goal, a quantum improvement in student achievement."

The entire "Quality Counts" report can be found on Education Week's website, www.edweek.org <http://www.edweek.org> .

###

The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People
www.louisianahelp.org