[StBernard] St. Bernard school officials pleased with results of state tests: Class Act

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard school officials pleased with results of state tests: Class Act
Print By Barry Lemoine 
on June 06, 2013 at 7:23 AM, updated June 06, 2013 at 7:24 AM

For teachers and students, June is a time to relax and recharge. But for
school administrators, it's also a time to reflect on the successes of the
last year. At a recent St. Bernard School Board meeting, Mary Lumetta, the
Supervisor of Curriculum for St. Bernard Parish Schools, shared some good
news regarding the 2013 state tests -in LEAP and iLEAP.

Overall, St. Bernard rose in the state ranking of districts moving from 15th
place to 10th on the percentage of students who scored Proficient on these
high-stakes tests.

Lumetta also emphasized the district's growth over the last four years.

"From 2009 to 2012, St. Bernard has earned a ranking of second in the state
in gains in percentage of students scoring at Basic and Above - an 11
percent increase," she said.

Lumetta called the results "phenomenal" considering the rigor of the new
tests.

"This really is a testament to all of the hard work done by our students,
teachers, parents, and administrators," Lumetta said.

"This is truly a team effort and the result of a tremendous amount of work.
Everyone really rose to the challenge."

Lumetta said the district also earned many top 10 rankings in the state in a
number of areas, highlighted by the fifth grade math scores. St. Bernard
Parish 5th grade students ranked first in the state in this area!

In other math scores, district wide the 4th graders ranked second in the
state, the third graders ranked third, the 7th graders were fourth while the
district's 6th grade math scores ranked sixth state wide.

8th grade math students also scored in the top ten in math, finishing
seventh in the state. The 5th graders also placed seventh state wide in ELA,
English and Language Arts, and eight state-wide in Social Studies.

6th graders ranked ninth in the state in Social Studies, while the 7th
graders ranked eighth in the state in Science.

Lumetta closed her presentation by showing the Board how St. Bernard
compares to the rest of the districts in the state.

"As you can see, we are above the state average in every category and by
double digits in most."

Superintendent Doris Voitier said that she was very pleased with the
continued growth of the school district over the last several years.

"We are ranking in top ten in math in every grade level. We are doing
extremely well in that area and our ELA scores are constantly rising too,"
she said.

Voitier also credited the scores as a team effort.

"This is the result of a lot of hard work and effort by our students and
teachers, and all of our curriculum people and instructional coaches. I've
never seen such a cohesive group - all working together to help each and
every child reach his potential. They have done an unbelievable job and has
taken this united effort to produce these results."