The Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s annual report card on Capital Region schools shows half of the state’s top 10 rated schools are now located in the nine-parish area and 12 of the region’s 13 districts posted improvements over the past year.
“This good news is tempered by the five area districts that [are] still ranked in the bottom 25 districts in the state,” reads the report card, released today. “Each of these bottom-ranked districts, however, saw improvements in their year-over-year score, with the most dramatic improvement taking place in the East Baton Rouge Recovery School District.”
On average, the Capital Region’s 13 school districts posted a 6% average improvement on their District Performance Scores, which are used in assigning overall grades to the districts and schools within them. That was enough to push the Capital Region’s overall grade up to a B last year, from a C the year previous.
The only district that saw a decline in its DPS was West Feliciana Parish, which retained an A grade despite a 0.7 percentage point dip in its overall score. It is one of five area districts with an A grade, with the others being Zachary (which retained its No. 1 overall district ranking in the state last year), Central, Ascension and Livingston.
The East Baton Rouge district saw its DPS score rise a more modest 1% last year, which was enough to keep its C grade, but not enough to keep it from slipping one spot to a No. 46 overall ranking among the state’s 74 districts. The report card shows EBR leads the Capital Region’s 13 school districts for top-performing schools, with six of the Capital Region’s top 10 rated schools located in the parish. Baton Rouge Magnet High School is the area’s top rated school, followed by Westdale Heights Academy and Sherwood Middle Academic.
Because the East Baton Rouge RSD and St. Helena school districts were able to improve their DPS scores enough to attain a D grade—up from an F last year—none of the Capital Region’s school districts have a failing overall grade. BRAC says the improvements are promising, but improvements need to come faster if the area is to keep up with future skilled workforce demands.
“Three out of 10 students in the Baton Rouge area and five out of 10 students in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System attend schools that are rated D or F,” BRAC notes. “At D schools, a minimum of 30% of students fail to meet even ‘basic’ achievement levels. In F schools, more than half the student population does not meet this level of fundamental knowledge and skills.”
In a prepared statement accompanying the report, BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp says, “The sobering reality is that the jobs being created today cannot wait until workforce supply catches up.”
See the complete report card.
—Steve Sanoski
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