The grades are out for school districts across the state. The Louisiana Department of Education announced the 2022-2023 performance scores for all public schools and systems.
Both Caddo and Bossier Parish school districts each report seeing progress. Bossier Schools maintained its “B” District Performance Score – and ranks among the top 20 performing school systems in the state. Three Bossier Scores went up a letter grade, while 9 earned an “A.”
Superintendent Mitch Downey retires next month, after a 40-year career, and is proud of the scores earned from last year. “Our teachers are heroes, and they change lives. And I think that was true, you know 40 years ago when I started and it’s even truer now. They have an opportunity to impact generations. I’m just proud I’ve been able to serve with a lot of them that make differences in kids’ lives every day.”
The Desoto Parish School District retained it’s “A” grade… even improving by another 3%. In fact, Desoto earned the only “A” among public schools in northwest Louisiana – and the third best in the entire state.
The largest school district in the area – Caddo Parish – STAYED STEADY WITH A “c” in their District Performance Score. Caddo improved their score by 2% as well. Chief Academic Officer Keith Burton recalls his first reaction to the state scores. “I guess my first impression was, ‘we’re back.’ We’re certainly back to that trajectory that we saw pre-COVID in all subject areas, across all grade levels and really across all kinds of schools.”
Burton says certain improvements far exceeded their expectations. That includes the fact that 98% of Caddo’s elementary and middle schools show growth in performance scores. “I think the first thing to note is we have 15 schools increase a letter grade. And of those 15, 12 of them are a Title I School, which means, you know, they have a large majority of impoverished students. But to be able to have 15 schools in our district increase their letter grade is just exceptional.”
Burton says they focus on three areas. First, making sure they have the very best resources and curriculum in front of teachers. The second component of their strategy is ensuring that they are building expertise around that curriculum and building “content knowledge” in every school where it’s needed. They have invested a lot in site-based teacher-leaders, so that these teacher- leaders can open up their classrooms. It’s really learning labs for teachers. And third, they give teachers enough time to do their job well.
*For a complete database on Louisiana’s 2023 School Performance Scores just click on this link and search for your school.
