By MELISSA PEACOCK

RESERVE – Preliminary results of the summer LEAP tests are out and St. John the Baptist Parish School System administrators said the scores are satisfactory, despite poor attendance from a significant portion of students.

“We had a high percentage passing the test – a little less than 50 percent passing the summer LEAP. There was about 43 percent passing across the board,” said Nita Jones, curriculum coordinator at East St. John Elementary School.

Jones said students at ESJES scored better on LEAP scores this year than in the past. In the spring, 93 students from the school took the LEAP test. Those scores went up 11.3 percent from the previous spring’s scores. About 36 ESJES students took the summer LEAP exam.

Teachers and administrators at the school attributed the increase in scores to innovative programs, such as SUMS and the “Writing Project” that help prepare students for the exam.

SUMS, piloted at the school last year, gets students actively involved in solving math problems. SUMS is a curriculum- and project-based program that teaches students to apply mathematic principals to problem-solving projects. Teachers believe the hands-on program will be much more effective than teaching math from an open book alone. The program is for third- and fourth-grade students.

“It is not just a drill in practice – their hands and minds are all involved in math,” Jones said. “Since we showed the increase, we have decided to continue the program.”

English LEAP scores at the school went up (during spring testing) as well.

“All our teachers were involved with the ‘Writing Project,'” Jones said. “It taught our teachers how to teach writing and how to make students excited about it. They (students) were able to edit their own work – to take what they learned in English Language Art and apply the principles.”

Overall, teachers and administrators at the school were pleased with students’ performance on the summer test.

“All we ask is that our students go and do their very best,” Jones said. “Test taking is a skill.”

Perry DiCarlo, principal at Fifth Ward Elementary School, said most of the Fifth Ward students taking the summer LEAP exam had to take only one section of the test. There were 23 regular and special education students taking the exam – 16 regular education and 7 special education students. Eleven of the 23 had already passed English in the spring and were only taking the math portion of the exam.

Eight regular education students (50 percent) passed the exam. Two special education students passed.

To increase next year’s LEAP scores, teachers and administrators at Fifth Ward will be starting after-school program much earlier, as well as piloting a SUMS program of their own.

“We will be starting the after-school program much earlier – in September,” DiCarlo said. “We are hoping that starting them earlier will help out (on next year’s exams). SUMS will be starting for the first year here for one third grade class and for the fourth grade. It will give more hands-on in math so that visual learners can pass.”

Also scheduled for the year, a continuation of LEAP 21, a state program designed to help prepare students for the types of questions (or format) on the LEAP exam.

The parish will use cumulative exams in December and May to check the progress of students, as well as to prepare them for the upcoming spring exams.

Superintendent Michael Coburn said the school system and School Board still have to decipher all the LEAP numbers to determine exactly how well students did during the summer session.

“What we have are the preliminary numbers,” Coburn said. “We are in the process of breaking that down.”

Coburn said the school administrators are still trying to determine how many students that did not go to summer school took the summer LEAP and how they scored, how many did not take the test at all and how many took the test and were promoted to the next grade.

What the preliminary numbers are showing is very poor attendance, Coburn said.

Of the 105 fourth-graders eligible, only 43 attended summer school. More than 200 eighth-grade students were eligible, yet only 119 attended summer school.

According to the State Department of Education, 75 fourth-grade students in St. John the Baptist Parish tested in English/Language Arts during the summer and 129 tested in mathematics. Thirty-two students passed the English/Language Arts portion of the exam. Sixty-two students passed the math portion.

The Department of Education also recorded a total of 60 eighth-grade students from St. John the Baptist Parish who tested in English/Language Arts, 25 passing, and 133 students tested in math, 38 passing.

Results from the spring LEAP showed an overall increase in English/language arts score and a decrease in math scores for parish students.

The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board is expected to release a more detailed report of LEAP scores in the next few weeks.