EBR public schools striving to improve

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Dec 30, 2005

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East Baton Rouge Parish has three public school systems -- the parish system and new systems in Baker and Zachary -- as well as many private schools from which to choose.

The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is the largest in the parish, with almost 47,000 students. Meanwhile, Baker has 2,300 students and Zachary has 3,300 students.

The largest private school system is run by the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, which operates 33 schools in eight parishes, including 17 in East Baton Rouge Parish.

To find out more about individual schools, check out the Louisiana School Directory, which can be found at libraries and online at http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/directory/home.html.

It lists 160 schools, excluding colleges, in the parish: 105 public and 55 private. The directory offers basic information, including location, enrollment, religious affiliation, grade configuration and size of teaching staff.

State approval

The directory also says whether the school is state approved, a kind of minimum accreditation for private schools that seek it. Of the 55 East Baton Rouge Parish private schools listed, five have yet to receive final approval.

State approval means the school offers courses that keep pace with public schools, its teachers mostly have degrees in the areas they are teaching and its principal has at least a master's degree. Public schools don't recognize credits of students who attend non-state approved schools. And, with a few exceptions, graduates of such schools aren't eligible for the state's Tuition Opportunity Program for Students college scholarships.

Also, state approval ensures that a school maintains an open admissions policy. A few schools, for various reasons, don't seek state approval at all. They are not listed in the state school directory.

School report cards

In Louisiana, all public schools are given an annual school performance score, based largely on standardized test scores, to help residents determine how well the school is doing.

Schools can get a score anywhere from 0 to 255.4 points. The state has set 120 points as the goal for all schools in Louisiana to reach by the year 2014.

Currently, the state averages 82.6. East Baton Rouge Parish averages 72.7; the Baker and Zachary school districts will get their first district-wide scores next spring.