PARCC Results: A New Baseline

The state has released the 2014-15 PARCC test results for English and math, grades 3-8.

How did New Orleans do?

• 60% of students scored Proficient (Basic or above); the state was 65%.
• 28% of students scored Mastery or above; the state was 33%.

Compared to other districts?

• New Orleans is ranked 45th out of 69 districts for percent Mastery or above.
• We outperformed 21 districts, and tied with three others.
• We held steady. Last year we ranked 46th; this year we ranked 45th.

View PARCC performance by district.

Higher standards – Moving from Basic to Mastery

In 1999, when the state launched school accountability, the goal was for all Louisiana children to score Basic or above on state tests. The LEAP tests were given in math and English, in grades 4 and 8. In 1999:

• 45% of Louisiana students scored Basic or above.
• 23% of New Orleans students scored Basic or above – 22 points behind the state.

Today, the goal is for all students to score Mastery or above. In 2015:

• 33% of Louisiana students scored Mastery or above.
• 28% of New Orleans students scored Mastery or above – 5 points behind the state.

New Orleans begins the journey to Mastery performing closer to the state average, but we face a long road, as a city and a state, to get our students to Mastery.

Next week the Department of Education will announce how Louisiana compares to other states that participated in the PARCC tests, and we will begin to be able to compare our student performance nationally.

School Accountability

In December, the department will be releasing K-8 School Performance Scores. These scores are based on:

• Assessments (how students performed on the PARCC tests for English and math and the LEAP/iLeap test for science and social studies)
• Progress points (how well the students below basic improved from one year to the next), and
• Dropout/Credit Accumulation Index (applies to schools with an 8th grade and looks at how many students transition to high school and how prepared they are).

For 2015 and 2016, the Letter grades schools receive will be graded on a curve, to allow schools time to transition to the higher standards.

• The overall distribution of letter grades cannot be lower than they were in 2012-2013. For example, if 15 percent of elementary schools earned an “A” in 2013, then at least 15 percent of elementary schools must also earn an “A” in 2015 and 2016.

Beginning in 2017, the points needed for each letter grade will be “fixed” (not graded on the curve). BESE is expected to approve the grading scale for future years in 2016. This new grading scale will phase in the expectation that by 2025, an “A” school will be one where the average score is Mastery. Currently, an “A” school is one where the average score is Basic.

How did our schools perform?

Below are the PARCC results by school for English and math only. For a complete list for each school, including science and social studies, view School Performance by Grade Level and Test.

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