Parish schools keep A rating

The Lincoln Parish School District is ranked eighth out of 69 districts in the state in the new 2024 performance scores released Wednesday, despite slipping by less than a point compared to last year.

Lincoln Parish remained an Arated district for the second year, this time buoyed by high and rising performances from its high schools, even as several elementary schools slid backward by a few points.

“Being the eighth highest district in the state is something to be proud of,” Superintendent Ricky Durrett said Thursday. “We certainly would have liked to see growth, but maintaining an A is certainly an accomplishment in itself for our teachers, administrators, and students.”

The school performance score is Louisiana’s primary measure for education accountability. The scores are displayed on the online Louisiana School Finder, which parents and businesses can use to search schools in a given area.

Overall, Lincoln Parish schools received a 92.9 district performance score, down half a point from 93.4 in 2023.

The scores are based on the 202324 school year, primarily LEAP standardized test scores, graduation rates and other data from the spring.

High school test scores, student growth and ACT results all went up noticeably for Lincoln Parish in 2024.

Ruston High and Choudrant High now have the same performance score at 107.5, good for an A. In Ruston’s case, that’s a significant growth from last year’s 104.7.

“Looking at Ruston High’s growth is great,” Durrett said. “And with the ACT index going up, it shows those kids are prepared for college and to have good careers. And in Choudrant, knowing we moved the sixth graders up to the high school last year, them maintaining their score and even going up a little is great to see.”

Simsboro High kept its B rating, despite slipping by about a point and a half. Dubach Elementary continued its meteoric rise in recent years with another 2.5 points of growth, holding onto a B rating as well.

It’s the elementary schools in Ruston where the results weren’t as rosy. Three of the four elementary schools inside the city — Cypress Springs Elementary, Glen View Elementary and Ruston Elementary — fell from B ratings in 2023 to C ratings this year, coming in at scores of 69.7, 71.2 and 74.8, respectively.

A 75 is the cutoff for a B score. “Ruston Elementary is still 2 tenths from being a B,” Durrett said. “The scores didn’t show the work that has gone into those schools. Our third, fourth and fifth-grade scores didn’t show the growth that we sure thought they would.”

He said he believes the elementary schools are still in the growing pains of adjusting to new science and social studies curricula. Plus, the district just brought in a new addition to the reading curriculum in kindergarten through third grade this school year, based on material from the University of Florida Literacy Institute.

“We hope to see some growth in the future with the things we’re doing there,” Durrett said.

Last year the school district rose to an A grade for the first time since 2017 as one of the fastest-growing districts that year. At the time it was ranked sixth in the state.

Louisiana as a whole is trending up, keeping a B rating and rising from 78.5 to 80.2.