Louisiana Superintendent John White refuses to publish the Louisiana Class of 2014 ACT scores.
His refusal is no longer a problem.
On January 31, 2015, I made a new friend. This new friend works at one of Louisiana's institutes of higher education. My new friend informed me that the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is not the only entity to which ACT sends score reports. It turns out that ACT sells the same score information to college and university admissions offices.
It also turns out that my new friend has connections within a Louisiana post-secondary admissions office.
The short of it is that I now have the Class of 2014 ACT composite scores for all Louisiana districts as well as the composite scores for all Recovery School District (RSD) and Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) high schools.
And now, you have them, as well, because I created the following Excel file to share with the public:
In the above file, I created three sheets. The first includes the following information by Louisiana school district:
ACT district code; district name; number of 2014 ACT test takers; 2014 average ACT composite score, and (for comparison) 2013 average ACT composite score.
The second and third spreadsheets are for RSD and OPSB high schools, respectively. Most RSD schools are in New Orleans. One is in Point Coupee, and two, in Baton Rouge. The following information is on the second and third spreadsheets:
ACT school code; school name; number of 2014 ACT test takers, and 2014 average composite score.
There is a reason Louisiana Superintendent John White has refused to release these scores to the public:
The Class of 2014 ACT composite scores for RSD do nothing to support the now-ten-year-old sales pitch that The Reforms Are Working in New Orleans.
The Class of 2013 ACT composite for RSD was 16.3.
The Class of 2014 ACT composite for all RSD high schools was 15.6. For RSD-New Orleans high schools, it was 15.7.
Here is a breakdown of 2014 average ACT composite scores for each RSD-New Orleans high school:
MLK Charter: 14.7
GW Carver: 14.3
Cohen College Prep: 17.4
John McDonogh High: 13.8
Joseph Clark: 13.9
Landry/Walker: 15.6*
KIPP Renaissance: 15.5
Miller-McCoy: 15.2
OP Walker: 17.3*
Sarah Reed: 15.0
RENEW Accelerated: 13.4
Sci Academy: 16.6
Thurgood Marshall: 15.8**
Walter Cohen: 12.3
Algiers Tech: 14.5
RENEW Accelerated West Bank: 14.4
(*Should be combined as a single school. **Renamed Lake Area Tech.)
I'm thinking there must be more to educating New Orleans students that "turning over" schools.
Out of 70 Louisiana public school districts listed, the state-run RSD ranked 66 in Class of 2014 ACT average composite scores. The four districts scoring lower were much smaller than RSD-New Orleans:
Madison: 67 test takers; 15.3 average composite for 2014.
St. Helena: 53 test takers; 15.4 average composite for 2014.
Tensas: 32 test takers; 15.3 average composite for 2014.
City of Baker: 115 test takers; 15.2 average composite for 2014.
RSD: All RSD: 1342 test takers; 15.6 average composite for 2014, with RSD-NO having 1133 test takers and an average composite of 15.7 for 2014.
These RSD-NO ACT scores aren't useful for selling the test-score-driven, state-takeover, charter-conversion model John White is so fond of. So what does the state super who cries "accountability" do?
He hides the scores from public view.
The RSD Class of 2014 was in third grade when Katrina hit. The state has been in charge of their education since then, and this is what they have to show for their test-score-driven, charter-friendly, Teach-for-America-friendly, so-called "education."
Nothing remotely touching "college ready."
A sham.
This post is a slightly-modified version of one originally posted 01-31-15 at deutsch29.wordpress.com
Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who's Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.