State releases ‘simulated’ school performance scores
Earlier this week, the Louisiana Department of Education released the 2020 Simulated School Performance Scores. Vermilion Parish School Superintendent Tommy Byler was not too worried about how the parish scored because of what the school system went through the last year.
“Despite the loss of instructional time during COVID, hurricanes and ice storms, the state decided that a simulated school performance score would be issued regardless of these factors,” Byler said. “In addition to this, 25 percent of our Vermilion students completed the year as virtual students, which meant a completely different type of instruction. Despite this, we are pleased to announce that Vermilion Parish once again ranked in the top 5 school districts in the state with a simulated district performance score of 88.5. Letter grades were not assigned to any of this year’s scores. Therefore, this is not an official score, but rather a score for data analysis for each system.”
The parish dropped four points based on the 2021 Simulated Score. Last year Vermilion Parish had a score of 92.5. This year it is 88.5.
High schools such as Erath High, North Vermilion, Kaplan and Gueydan made an A grade even though no letter grades were given.
Erath High scored 108.7, followed by North Vermilion High (106.9), Kaplan (105.1) and Gueydan (90.1). Abbeville High scored an 84.0
Forked Island E. Broussard Elementary had the highest elementary score in the parish, with a 95.7. Cecil Picard Elementary (90.4), Kaplan Elementary (90.0) and Dozier Elementary (90.3) all scored in the 90s.
Indian Bayou Elementary scored a 94.1
“As a district, we had areas in which we experienced growth and some in which we had a slight dropoff in scores. We had schools whose SPS went up and others that slightly declined. However, all of our schools experienced growth in at least one subset of their score,” he said.
“Knowing the lost time we went through with the hurricanes and the lack of 1:1 technology for virtual learning days, we were not completely surprised by the slight decrease. However, I am pleased with the outcome all despite the obstacles. 75% of the districts in the state experienced score drops. Vermilion was right in line with the rest of the state. We will continue to look at the data and are confident that our students will continue to work hard and give their best efforts to excel as we work towards our score for 2021.”
According to the Department of Education, “The 2020-2021 school year was a year unlike any other, and the state results cannot be accurately compared to the previous years.”
All policies related to school and district performance scores have been waived, which means the official letter grades, performance, and district performance scores will be carried over from the 2018-2019 school year.
Across the state, 70% of schools and 71% of districts received simulated performance scores lower than the 2019 scores. Declines were especially prevalent in high-poverty and high-minority schools where virtual learning was widely used.
Louisiana’s overall performance score — out of a possible 150 points — declined 1.8 points to 75.3. Corresponding letter grades are typically awarded using the following scale: A, 90.0-150.0; B, 75.0-89.9; C, 60.0-74.9; D, 50.0-59.9 and F, 0-49.9.
Vermilion Parish did not have any “F” schools.
Abbeville’s Herod Elementary (54.1) and Eaton Park Elementary (56), and J.H. Williams Middle School (58.5) scored the lowest in the parish.
Byler said, “A big thanks to all the students, teachers, and parents who went through a most trying educational year. But, all in all, we know that we have the systems in place and will continue to work on making up lost learning and move forward to greater successes in the coming years.”