BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Fourth- and eighth-graders in Louisiana
public schools showed “marked improvement” this spring in scores
on standardized tests that are required for promotion to the next
grade, state education officials said Tuesday.
High school students taking the state graduation exit exam
showed smaller overall gains and fell behind in science, officials
said.
The promotion test improvements included New Orleans schools
that were taken over by the state and placed in the state Recovery
School District after Hurricane Katrina.
Statewide, 76 percent of fourth-graders passed the 2008
promotion test known as LEAP, compared to 74 percent in 2007.
Sixty-nine percent of eighth-graders passed the LEAP this year
compared to 66 percent in 2007.
Scores of fourth-graders in the state-run system in New Orleans
improved by 12 percentage points. Scores for eighth-graders
improved by 4 percentage points.
Still, the figures showed how far those schools have to go.
Despite the improvements, the percentage of fourth-graders passing
was only 48 percent, up from 36 percent last year. Thirty-six
percent of eighth-graders met the promotion standard, up from 32
percent last year.

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