REBECCA CARRASCO

LUTCHER – Members of the St. James Parish School Board were recently presented with an administrative review of the Graduation Exit Examination for the 21st century, the “GEE 21.” They also received a preliminary summary report on the results for the last school year 2000-20001, according to Administrative Director Janie Vee Henderson. She emphasized it is important to grasp the difference between the new GEE 21 and the old GEE. “With the old GEE you had a scale score that you passed or you failed,”she explained. “With the new GEE 21 you have achievement levels, as you also have LEAP 21 for grades 4 and 8.” In addition, Henderson continued the GEE 21 is longer and more rigorous, and students have to apply what they know and not just remember facts. “This is the first year that 10th-graders took the GEE 21,” she said, “and we were very pleased with it because they surpassed expectations. “The district percentage was 30 percent of our 10th-graders scored at Approaching Basic, where as the average for the state at Approaching Basic was 23 percent. So we did really well at Approaching Basic.” The state average for Unsatisfactory is 22 percent, while the district’s average was 29 percent. But, Henderson pointed out, “We had special education included in that 29 percent.” “If special education had not been included we would have been below the state in Unsatisfactory – much lower. Without special education we might have been right at 22 percent,” she said. In math, the district’s students performed particularly well. “Now for math we were really very pleased,” Henderson reported, “because they did really better than the state percentage at every achievement level.” The state percentage for Unsatisfactory is 35, but the district percentage was 34. “One point makes a difference,” she added. “And the average for the state at Approaching Basic was 15 percent, but the district average was 17.” At each of the Basic and Proficient achievement levels, Henderson said, the district’s schools were pretty much on a par with the state averages. “For Proficient we actually did better than the state, and that is the second-to-highest achievement level,” she said. “The state percentage level is 13, and 15 percent of our sophomores scored Proficient.” At the Basic level, the state average was 33 percent and the district average was 33 percent. Seventeen percent scored at the Approaching Basic level. One percent of St. James Parish 10th-graders scored at Advanced, the highest achievement level. The 2000-01 group were the first sophomores to take the new exam, but there is a benefit to being on the cutting edge. “This year’s sophomores will be the only sophomores that will not have to pass any tests other than English language arts and mathematics in order to receive a high school diploma,” Henderson explained. On the old exam, students had to pass four tests, in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. Under the new system sophomores taking the exam will have to pass English language arts and mathematics, and when they are juniors they will have to pass either science or social studies. “This year’s sophomores were the pilot. They are the grace class and they have been granted a favor. If they finish both tests this year they are finished with GEE 21. All they have to do now is complete earning their Carnegie units.” “I think that we are doing fine,” Henderson concluded. “We do have a way to go but we are headed in the right direction and we are getting there. It is an indication that we are appropriately aligning curriculum and instruction in regards to the state’s standards and benchmarks.”