WBR school defended as not subpar

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 7, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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PORT ALLEN — An apparent flaw in how the state evaluates school performance has landed Port Allen Elementary School on the list of Louisiana’s academically unacceptable schools.

West Baton Rouge Schools Superintendent David Corona said the Port Allen Elementary has been penalized for its non-traditional grade structure.

Port Allen serves students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade.

The state’s assessment of Port Allen Elementary is based on test scores from its students after they move on to third grade at Cohn Elementary School.

While praising Louisiana’s school accountability system on Wednesday, Corona said he would have no problem accepting the state’s assessment of Port Allen if the students who were tested actually attended the school.

 “To evaluate a school’s performance based on test results of students two years removed from the school is a travesty,” Corona added.

In a memorandum addressed Monday to State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, Corona notes that Port Allen scores from average to above average in all of the academic indicators the state recognizes for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students.

 Corona also noted that fourth-grade students at Cohn scored well enough to offset the poor showing of third-grade students at the school, helping Cohn maintain its status as a well-performing school while leaving Port Allen vulnerable to corrective action from the state as a low-performing school.

Based on Port Allen’s current low-performing status, parents whose children attend the school have the option of enrolling their children in other elementary schools — a choice Corona said is unnecessary and impractical given the limited space available at other elementary schools.

Pastorek was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but René Greer, media coordinator with the state Department of Education, said she has reviewed Corona’s letter and agrees with him that the state needs to find a better way to evaluate Port Allen.

Greer pointed out that while  Louisiana’s Accountability Department — which oversees school performance — ranks among the best in the country, it isn’t perfect.

“We are doing a lot of things right, but admittedly, we need to look at these unique cases when they are brought to our attention,” Greer said.

Greer, however, did not completely discount Port Allen Elementary’s culpability in the poor performance of third- grade students at Cohn Elementary.