Last Thursday, The Louisiana Department of Education released the 2024-2025 school and district performance scores, reporting statewide improvement with a score of 80.9 on the current 150-point scale system. This marks more than a five-point increase since 2021 and reflects steady increases across all learning areas over the past five years.
The 2025 Louisiana Superintendent of the Year, Dr. Ken Oertling of St. Charles Public Schools, broke down the significance of this progress. “Louisiana made so many strides from a state level, implementing some policies along to state law, you know, especially the focus on early literacy, and that really pays all significant dividends for our students across the state.” He also noted a focus on numeracy and higher academic standards, which is progress the accountability report card now reflects.
A New System for the New Year
Despite recent gains, the Louisiana Department of Education has described the current accountability formula as outdated, difficult to understand, and less accurate in measuring the preparation students need for career and college success today. The state will replace it with a new model: Grow. Achieve. Thrive.
“For elementary and middle school, you’re going from a formula that weighs the achievement on the assessments more so than the growth of a student’s learning when a student enters a class,” says Dr. Oertling. “You always want to make sure you’re educating that child and that child is growing. So, […] the weight has kind of shifted to more on growth and less on achievement [for elementary and middle school] which I think is—is good.”
Dr. Oertling explained that every student learns at a different pace, and the new system allows schools to measure growth across multiple indicators.
For high schools, the old system relied on 4 equal weighted quadrants: the ACT scores, the end-of-course tests results, diploma strength, and graduation rate. Under the new system, end-of-course test results account for 75 percent of the score, while the remaining categories combine for the final 25 percent.
Positive Changes
The updated scorecard shifts from a 0-150 scale to a 0-100 scale. This is an adjustment that Dr. Oertling says will make the system easier for parents to understand. Although the scale changes, schools will continue working toward growth in fundamental areas.
“Some of the classes that are more aligned to direct support for students who are challenged in certain ways, we’re adding support in those classes,” says Dr. Oertling. “When there wasn’t as higher of a weight, we’re [now] prioritizing them with different areas.”
“We’re really proud of our current ranking,” he adds, referring to St. Charles Parish. “We were able to attain that A in the old accountability system, which really reflects the leadership within our schools, the great work our teachers, our families, as well as just the collaborative effort of all of our stakeholders, so, very proud of that moving forward, and we look forward to continuing to invest in our students to make sure they’re achieving positive outcomes when they graduate high school.”