• DONATE
• HOME  | 
• CONTACT US  | 
• SUBSCRIBE  | 
• EMPLOYMENT

Highlights of TAP Results - Louisiana

There are 28 schools implementing TAP in Louisiana during the 2008-2009 school year. These include nine schools operated by the Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA). As seen in the graph, Louisiana TAP schools improved student achievement, with over two-thirds of the schools making at least a year's worth of academic growth.

Over 900 Louisiana teachers received performance payouts this year, totaling approximately $1.96 million.

CASE STUDIES

Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA)
New Orleans, Louisiana

The Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA), which was formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to serve a disadvantaged community in New Orleans, incorporated TAP into its charter.

Here are just a few highlights of TAP's impact on the Algiers charter schools:

• Of the eight schools eligible for value-added achievement growth calculations (those with three years of value-added achievement data), five achieved significantly more than a year's academic growth with their students compared to similar schools across Louisiana. Two schools showed "above average" results and one demonstrated a solid year's growth.

• TAP helped reduce teacher turnover rates, from 22% (well above the 13% national average) in the 2006-07 school year, to 14% in the 2007-08 year, and to under 6% in the 2008-09 year.
• A 2009 evaluation of ACSA by Kenneth Leithwood and Doris Jantzi finds that TAP was a vital part of the success of these schools (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2009).

These schools have demonstrated success in moving students to higher levels of achievement on Louisiana state assessments. The Algiers schools have far outperformed the state averages in moving students from "unsatisfactory" to higher levels of achievement. After the first year of TAP implementation, for example, ACSA students scored more than 22 percent higher than their neighboring peers in math and reading.

Forest Hill Elementary School
Rapides Parish, Louisiana

Nancy Rials of Forest Hill Elementary in Rapides Parish is 2007 Louisiana Principal of the Year. L-R: Jim Stafford, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Member; Paul Pastorek, Louisiana Superintendent of Education; Nancy Rials; Tommy Roque, Rapides Parish School District Assistant Superintendent; Linda Johnson, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President; Ollie Tyler, Louisiana Deputy Superintendent of Education
(Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Department of Education)

Forest Hill Elementary School, a Title I school in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, began TAP implementation in 2004 when 84% of the students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. With strong leadership and dedication to TAP, Forest Hill has been able to strengthen its teaching force and make significant academic achievement gains with its students.

According to state LEAP fourth-grade test results, in two years, the number of Forest Hill students reaching basic and above in math proficiency grew from 73% to 90% and from 76% to 85% in English/Language Arts. Similarly, Forest Hill's School Performance Score, based on state assessments, increased from 105.2 to 114.7 after just one year of TAP, and by the end of the 2005-06 year, jumped to 124.5 — the largest growth in the entire parish.

Because of its extraordinary achievements, in 2006 the State of Louisiana selected Forest Hill as a Distinguished Title I School of the Year, an honor presented to only two schools in the state. In 2007, Principal Nancy Rials received Louisiana's Elementary School Principal of the Year. In 2008, Forest Hill was named the top high-poverty school in the state. And that same year, Forest Hill was the first to receive the prestigious TAP Founder's Award, which recognized the school's exemplary implementation of TAP with a $50,000 cash prize.

TAP in the News - Louisiana

Select Stories