LOUISIANA — The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education passed the new accountability system for Louisiana public schools on June 12.
Louisiana's K-12 accountability system is used to grade the performance of public schools and school systems. So, when you say your child goes to an 'A'-rated public school, this is the system that determines that each year.
There are five components that contribute to the grade:
- End-of-course testing
- Student growth rates
- Graduation rates
- Nationally-recognized exam scores
- College, career or military service readiness
This new accountability system will go into effect for the 2025/2026 school year and is still made up of those five components, but changes are being made that could make it more difficult for schools to earn the same grade they've been earning under the current system.
"There could be some shifts in how districts make decisions, based on a new accountability system," said Tommy Byler, the Vermilion Parish School System superintendent.
What's changing is which components have a higher level of value.
Under the current accountability system, graduation rates, national exams and college readiness levels account for about 70% of the overall score, and the remaining 30% comes from EOC test scores and student growth rates, but under the new system, everything is basically flipped.
Seventy-five percent of the score will come from EOC testing and student growth, and the other 25% will be from graduation rates, national exams and college readiness.
According to the Louisiana Department of Education, the new accountability system is based on three fundamental drivers: Grow. Achieve. Thrive.
It sets higher expectations for the school and school systems and, for high schools, puts a greater emphasis on career and college readiness.
A tri-column accountability scorecard gives these drivers a value by breaking it down into 12 factors that average out to the school's overall score.
The first column ("Grow") measures the percentage of students growing based off proficiency levels in end-of-course assessments in math and English.
Under the new system, non-proficient achievement levels have been split into two groups, so the proficiency levels will now be as follows:
- Low Unsatisfactory
- High Unsatisfactory
- Low Approaching Basic
- High Approaching Basic
- Low Basic
- High Basic
- Mastery
- Advanced
To show growth, a student must grow from a lower non-proficient level to a higher one. If the student is in Mastery, they must grow by one scale point, and Advanced students must stay in Advanced to earn the school a growth point.
This system also focuses on the growth of the lowest 25% of students and English Learners, which are students who may speak another language and are acquiring the English language.
According to the LDOE, using Louisiana's 2023 numbers, this is what that column would look like:
The second column of the scorecard ("Achieve") is also based on EOC testing and measures the percentage of students who are proficient in math, English, science and social studies, meaning they earn a score that places them in Mastery or Advanced levels.
You can see those simulated scores here:
The third column ("Thrive") is specifically for high schools and measures the percentage of high school students who are thriving.
The first component here is the school's graduation rate—the percentage of students earning a diploma.
Then, the percentage of students deemed ready, based on scores in nationally recognized assessments, including:
- ACT
- SAT
- CLT
- WorkKeys
- ASVAB
To be considered "ready" by this system, students must earn:
- ACT score of 20, or
- SAT score of 1040, or
- CLT score of 67, or
- WorkKeys Gold, or
- 59% on the ASVAB
The last factor in the "Thrive" column is based on college, career or military service readiness.
These are the three options high school students are presented with: accelerating into college, a career or military service. In order for this system to agree that the students have been successfully "accelerated into college coursework, career training or service," they must fit certain requirements.
To earn a university accelerator, students must earn:
- ACT, SAT or CLT score as listed above
Plus: - TOPS aligned Advanced Placement of 3, or
- International Baccalaureate of 4, or
- 6 Dual Enrollment credits with a 'C' or better
- ACT Math of 25+
- ACT English of 26+
- SAT Math of 590+
- SAT Writing & Language of 33+
- 3 on College-Level Examination Program (CLEP)
To earn a career accelerator, students must complete:
- Basic bundle plus internship, or
- Advanced Credential plus internship, or
- Two years of a Fast-Forward Aligned Registered Apprenticeship, or
- Certificate of Technical Studies in a high wage/high demand industry
To earn a service accelerator, students must have:
- signed military acceptance letter, or
- service academy acceptance
The base score for this factor of the scorecard will be the percentage of students meeting one of the accelerator columns.
See what Louisiana's completed simulated scorecard looks like here:
"The biggest change is obviously the transition in high school, where the EOC tests take on a whole lot more importance when it comes to the school accountability score," Byler said.
Under this new system, schools and school systems will be given a letter grade depending on where their scores fall in comparison to other schools and school systems.
There are three scales:
- Elementary/Middle
- High
- District
On each scale, the letter grade break down will look like this:
- Top 10% will earn an 'A'
- Next 20% will earn a 'B'
- Next 40% will earn a 'C'
- Next 20% will earn a 'D'
- Next 10% will earn an 'F'
What could this mean for Acadiana schools?
According to Byler, "Schools could see a large number of schools drop letter grades. School districts could drop letter grades, and it's just important that people understand it is a new system, and it is going to take some time."
However, Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent Francis Touchet, Jr. said the Lafayette Parish schools won't be making much of a change to fit the new accountability standards. Instead, they will be creating their own standards.
"We have been engaging with the Department of Ed for the last year, and some of our concerns have just fell on deaf ears, so what we have done here in Lafayette Parish is we have engaged with our stakeholders, and we are going to develop our own accountability system that we're going to be bringing to our board in the near future, and that accountability will gauge around what our school system is going to look at as far as accountability, and that is the schools are going to be safe, there's going to be a culture, and there is going to be opportunities, and there is going to be growth with each of our different schools," Touchet said.
