The
Louisiana Scholarship Program allows low-income students to attend participating private schools at public expense if they are at C, D or F-graded public schools or entering the system for the first time. Vouchers began as a New Orleans pilot in 2008 and expanded statewide in fall 2012.
The Scholarship Cohort Indices measure only students on vouchers at the private schools, not the entire student body. The calculations are nearly identical to those used for public schools and rely heavily on test results. On the state's 150-point
scoring system, anything lower than a 50 is an F.
Of the 22 schools for which the state released scores Wednesday, 13 were in the F range, including seven in New Orleans, three in Baton Rouge and one in Kenner. There were five voucher schools in the D range, three C schools and one B, with a score of 93.8: St. Benedict the Moor in New Orleans. (
See the full list of schools.)
The lowest-scoring voucher school, Redemptorist Elementary in Baton Rouge, had a score of 18.6 on the 150-point scale. If measured
alongside public schools, Redemptorist's voucher cohort would be the second-worst in the state, not counting alternative schools.
There are consequences for low scores: After two years, failing voucher schools may not take new publicly funded students. They may, however, keep the students they have.
Four schools appear to fall into that category: Holy Ghost Elementary, St. Alphonsus, St. Mary's Academy and St. Peter Claver, all in New Orleans. White said staff were working with those schools to figure out how many seats they would list when applications open in January.
Two schools on Wednesday's list have already left the program altogether: Cathedral Academy in New Orleans was shut down by the Archdiocese, and the state Education Department booted New Living Word in Ruston for alleged financial issues. Another school on the list, Bishop McManus in New Orleans, was barred from accepting new voucher students this fall due to low spring test scores.
http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2013/11/no_performance_score_for_80_pe.html