La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § LXXXIII-303

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 12, December 20, 2024

Section LXXXIII-303 - Transition from Fall 2013 to Spring 2016 (2014, 2015, and 2016 SPS Release)

A. Schools shall receive an annual 2013 SPS using the 150-point scale, as approved for the 2012-13 school year and as described in Chapters 3-6 of this bulletin.

B.

1. In order to provide for a two-year baseline associated with new assessments in English language arts and mathematics, the LDE shall ensure that the distribution of school letter grades remains constant throughout this transition by assigning school letter grades for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 school years based on the distribution of school letter grades by school type (e.g., K-8 v. combination v. high school) from the 2012-2013 school year.

a. If schools generally decline in performance scores, then the distributions (K-8, combination and high school) shall remain the same as in 2012-13 so as not to punish schools during the transition.

b. Any school or district that maintains or improves its annual performance score as compared to the 2012-13 performance scores shall not experience a decrease in its letter grade. Thus, if schools generally improve in performance scores, then the distributions shall improve as they would in any other year.

c. If, in implementing consistent distributions of letter grades, more than one school of the same type (e.g., K-8 school, combination school, or high school) earns the same school performance score (i.e., they are "tied"), then all such schools shall be awarded the same letter grade. For example, if a school earning a school performance score of 84.9 in the 2014-2015 school year is awarded a letter grade of B, all other schools of the same type earning a school performance score of 84.9 in the 2014-2015 school year shall also receive a letter grade of B.

2. Prior to the creation of the transitional ninth grade, some schools were categorized as combination schools, rather than high schools, simply because they offered 8th grade courses to a select group of students ineligible for 9th grade. Such schools shall be classified as high schools and the 12-13 distributions shall be adjusted to reflect this shift.

C. By the fall of 2015, BESE shall determine, in consultation with the Accountability Commission, the timeline and benchmarks needed to gradually raise the standard for student proficiency such that the average student in a school or district with a letter grade of "A" achieves at least "mastery" (level 4) on state assessments no later than the 2024-2025 school year.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § LXXXIII-303

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 39:2442 (September 2013), amended LR 40:760 (April 2014), LR 40:1314 (July 2014), Amended LR 411263 (7/1/2015).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:10.1.