Welsh High’s LEAP ranks among the best in the state – Reuters

Spring LEAP test results indicate that Jeff Davis Parish students have grown in many test areas, according to program supervisor and district assessment and accountability contact Rory Myers.

The district was among the top districts for LEAP year-on-year growth, with Welsh High School named as one of the best schools in the state.

“Overall, we’re seeing growth,” Myers said. “We’re up three percent on our master’s and above the entire district, which is a good number.”

The data ranks Jeff Davis Parish as the 11th best district in the state for one-year growth in LEAP.

“When you look at the combined data, that tells you we’re up three points from the 2021 scores, but it also tells us that we’re almost back to where we were in 2019,” Myers said. “It puts us a point of 2019 in our 3-8 years and our totals, but that tells us that we are gettback to where we were before COVID and the hurricanes, at least statistically.

“We still have areas where we want to improve and we need to be very aware that each child may still need help to fill those gaps with unfinished learning, but the big picture tells us that we are getting closer to where we were in 2019 and before -COVID and hurricanes.

The data is only a summary of the percentage of students achieving mastery or higher on test scores. Academic results and evaluation indices have not been published.

Jeff Davis Parish School Superintendent John Hall is pleased with the progress.

“I’m proud of what our teachers and staff have done to prepare our students,” Hall said. “We have had two very difficult years with the storms and COVID. It’s amazing to see their hard work pay off with student success.

Welsh High School ranks 6th among the top 15 schools in the state for year-over-year growth. The school rose 14 percentage points in proficiency and more on a high school index. In 2021, 31% of students obtained a master’s level and above, compared to 45% in 2022.

“They really showed growth in multiple areas, not just in one area, but in all areas.” said Myers. “A lot of good things are happening at Welsh High. We are very proud of them.”

Myers thinks more schools will show growth and move up in letter grades when school-level results are released.

Myers said there was noted growth in every area, which is something to celebrate across the board.

“The fact that each area has grown is a big deal,” she said. “It tells all levels that we have worked very hard to see this growth across all four subjects and it speaks to every department at the district level as well as at the school level.”

All areas in the district show growth from 2021, she said. Math and science are back to pre-COVID numbers with grades 3-8 grades slightly above their 2019 numbers for previous proficiency and above.

Social studies is almost back to the 2019 score with good growth from 2021. Strong growth is also noted in high school social studies and American history, which are expected to be represented when school indexes are released later this year. year.

In mathematics, students met or exceeded the proficiency percentage or above as of 2019, with the total percentage one point higher than the 2019 totals.

Good growth was also seen in English Language Arts (ELA) compared to 2021.

Myers attributes the growth to the district’s continued focus on student needs.

“We did a lot of research on the needs of children from 2019 to 2021,” she said. “Our school leaders and teachers are meeting the needs of our students and filling these learning gaps. They are aware of their program, the level of LEAP rigor and meet their children where they are and move them where they need to be. It’s a lot of work for a school.

The district hired instructional coaches to help schools and teachers across the district meet student needs, which Myers said also helped test growth.

Test results are used by the district to determine its strengths and weaknesses, set goals for the coming year, and make program decisions.

The focus for the new school year will be to continue to progress students to mastery level and focus on literacy, updating curricula as needed and working in response to the intervention to meet individual student needs.

Students in grades 3-8 were graded in four areas: English Language Arts (ELA), math, social studies, and science.

High school students were tested in English I, English II, Algebra I, Geometry, Biology, and American History.