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By  D. Scott Hughes, Executive Director Alliance For Education

In Louisiana we have been attempting to measure educational outcomes through our School Accountability Program, which has set a goal of every school reaching an School Performance Score (SPS) Score of 100.  An SPS score of 100 is an academic measurement of a school that shows 75% of children are at grade level or better.  To date, through the just released scores for the 2008/09 SY, roughly 300 of Louisiana’s 1,300 schools (23%) have met this basic standard where at least 75% of the children are on grade level.  Locally, 33 of 140 schools (24%) in our seven parishes have met the 100 SPS goal.  Simply put that means we have 3 out of 4 schools in our state and region where less than 75% of children are not on grade level. 

Looking deeper, the State average for an SPS score last year was an 86, an all-time high.  What does an 86 SPS mean?  It means that 56% of children at that school are at or above grade level.  In Louisiana 650 of 1,300 schools are at or above the average.  In a state with roughly 680,000 K-12 school children that equates to about 200,000 children currently below grade level.  Assuming the seven systems in northwest Louisiana have about 85,000 school aged children it means we likely have about 38,000 currently below grade level.  Those schools who receive an SPS score below 60, the current level to be at to avoid Academically Unacceptable status, have only 35% of children at or above grade level.

Experience has taught us that understanding SPS scores can be very difficult.  Though the goal as stated above is to get all schools to 100 SPS score, this only reflects 75% of children at grade level.  We have been conditioned to believe 100 is the top score, when in fact on this scale a top score would be 200, reflecting 100% of all children at that school well above grade level.  So a score of 86, the State average looks like a high “B” when in fact it really means only a little more than half the students at that school are on grade level.  And all accountability and testing aside, being on grade level seems like a reasonable expectation.

Simply put, grade level is an easy concept Americans can relate too.  In fact, the Obama Administration has recently begun to better outline its larger vision for public education in the United States.    In brief, it is built around two simple premises: 

1)     Every child on grade level in that grade

2)     Every graduate ready for college and career

Simple concepts that are much harder to put into action.  Ultimately the goal seems to be to create an environment where the school works well.  And as school districts across the country are learning, that type of learning environment will likely take different solutions for different collections of students.  Some need more basic instruction to catch up.  Some need more personal options for their unique learning style.  All need more relevant learning that engages and inspires us to go well beyond a point where we are even willing to accept 75% of kids on grade level as a goal.