Page 4, The Daily Review, Morgan City, La., Progress Edition, Friday, April 29, 2011
Parish students excelled in banner year for district Ben Franklin noted, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” It is well documented that St. Mary Parish has made great strides in its educational system over the past six years. In 2010, an unparalleled 92 percent of district fourth grade students met the state’s promotional standard. Most recent accountability figures rank St. Mary Parish 14th in the degree of proficiency growth among fourth graders. Eighth grade results indicated 80 percent meeting promotional standards in 2010. In fact, St. Mary Parish students have outpaced their counterparts in nearly every core area and grade level on the LEAP, iLEAP, and GEE standardized assessments. An astounding 21 of 23 district schools demonstrated gains in their 2010 baseline school performance scores. Eleven of those 23 schools posted school performance scores above 90. Clearly, St. Mary Parish’s endeavor for academic achievement has seen its
share of success; however, the district also has a firm grasp on its potential for even greater progress in the future. According to Superintendent Dr. Donald Aguillard, “The St. Mary Parish School System represents a thriving professional learning community truly committed to the task of harnessing greater capacity in the organization.” The district’s concerted effort toward continual growth and progress has led to several new academic ventures designed to garner improvements in specific areas. Targeted students in second and third grade needing intense remediation in reading or math will be invited to attend a Summer Academic School. Based on funding and resources available, a select number of students will attend four weeks of classes held at the LEAP Remediation Summer School sites. In addition, some elementary schools will offer two-week remediation camps at their school sites. St. Mary Parish is also focusing heavily on eighth grade literacy and numeracy with the 212° Project. This concentrated project expands on the fact that only one extra degree makes the difference between hot and boiling water. Year-long professional development for eighth grade English Language Arts, reading, and math teachers will be aimed at securing one extra degree of effort from both teachers and students in order to boost eighth grade LEAP scores. As the Graduate Exit Exam is phased out and replaced with EOC (End of Course) exams, high school teachers are faced with modifying test preparation and remediation lessons. Freshmen and sophomore English Language Arts and math teachers were provided with class sets of GLE and EOC review workbooks to aid in the test preparation process. Diagnostic tests were placed on
achievement series to expedite scoring and provide teachers with detailed remediation plans for each student. Further, EOC remediation in Algebra 1 will be provided during LEAP Remediation Summer School. For students with reading deficiencies, St. Mary has successfully implemented Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant. This success has been clearly documented in a longitudinal research study released by Scientific Learning comparing achievement gains of St. Mary fourth graders with fourth graders throughout Louisiana. For students failing to demonstrate appropriate progress through Fast ForWord products, an alternative intervention entitled Failure Free Reading was incorporated in six schools to provide strategic assistance to “non-readers.” In conjunction with targeted grade levels, the district is also placing its attention for improvement at two low-performing middle schools with its implementation of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). The program consists of four components of educational reform: multiple career paths, ongoing applied professional growth, instructionally focused accountability, and performancebased compensation. Three master teachers will be hired to facilitate continuous, job-embedded professional development during the regular school day. Mentor teachers in each school will collaborate with master teachers to lead twice weekly cluster group meetings and field test best practices in the classroom. The academic success realized in St. Mary Parish has fostered both confidence and pride in the local community. The school board’s commitment to maintain instructional focus, progressive decision making and financial conservatism afforded the return of
HATTIE WATTS ELEMENTARY School in Patterson benefited from a $1.5 million project to upgrade the school’s cafeteria and add a classroom wing during the past year. The project rearranged the space in the cafeteria and cre-
ated room for the school to retain fourth-graders on campus, rather than sending them to Patterson Junior High School as is currently the case. The project was completed this spring.
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