Tanglewood 3rd Graders: No. 1 in State Testing; Central Schools K-12 Overall No. 3 in State

BATON ROUGE —  For the second straight year, 3rd graders in the Central Community School System were the highest performing in the State of Louisiana, according to test results announced by the State Department of Education.

State department numbers also showed Central as tied for 3rd Place among the 70 public school systems in the state, based on percentage of students at or above grade level in Spring 2011 testing.  The 3rd Place ranking is premised on excluding the results from Orleans Parish, where most schools have been taken over by the state.  Excluding Orleans Parish, the top school systems in the state are:

Overall Performance K-12

% Students at

District Basic or Above

Zachary 85

West Feliciana 81

Central 79

Livingston Parish 79

Plaquemines Parish 79

Vernon Parish 79

St. Tammany Parish 78

Allen Parish 78

Jeff Davis Parish 78

These numbers mean that 79 percent of the students in the Central Community School System are performing at or above their grade level.

Meanwhile, an analysis of the test results show that student achievement level would be even higher in Central if it weren’t for the large growth in student enrollment.

Central’s school enrollment has grown by 60 percent in the past four years.  When the test results are broken down based on how long students have been in the system, they show that the new students are not performing nearly so well as students who have been in Central schools over two years.

“It takes awhile for new students to become accustomed to the school culture in Central,” Central schools Supt. Mike Faulk said.  “As long as we have such rapid growth in enrollment, we will be working hard to help new students perform at a higher level than they may have been used to.”

Reached at his office in Zachary, Zachary schools Supt. Warren Drake said he was pleased with the Zachary Community School System’s overall ratings, which once again placed Zachary with the No. 1 districtwide ratings in the state.

When asked how Zachary consistently does so well, Drake said he is never quite sure how the numbers will work out and that he doesn’t believe the test results are the final measure of a school district’s success.  But he did say he is very proud of his teachers and professional staff in Zachary.  “It’s really all about the people!” he said.

Drake commended Central on its No. 1-in-the-state ranking for its 3rd graders.  “Central is doing a great job, and the Central community should be very proud,” he said.  He said he and Supt. Faulk are in frequent communication.

Overall, 42 of the 70 school districts improved their test scores between 2010 and 2011.

Statewide, 66 percent of public school students were at or above their grade level.  That’s up from 60 percent in 2008.

The Louisiana Department of Education said,

“Each year, students in 4th and 8th grade participate in the high-stakes LEAP test, which determines whether they will be required to attend summer school or be retained. Students in the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades take the state’s iLEAP test, which is designed to measure student progress but does not determine whether they will be retained in their current grade. High school students in 10th and 11th grades take Louisiana’s Graduation Exit Examination, or GEE, which they must pass at some point in their high school career to earn a standard diploma. Until this year, 9th graders also participated in the state’s iLEAP test. However, the Class of 2014 will be the first to meet Louisiana’s new requirement for graduation — a passing score on three of the state’s End of Course (EOC) tests: English II or English III, Algebra I or Geometry, and Biology or American History.”

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News