Some Sad truths about RSD’s Grad Rate and Dropout numbers

I have been warning LDOE for years that something fishy is going on with the grad rate across the state. John White, Chas Roemer and Reformers would just have you believe that “raising the bar” and having “higher expectations” for students is the only thing that Louisiana lacks. They ignore decades of history and Louisiana’s extreme poverty as contributing factors. It’s no coincidence that those who tell poor people poverty is not a factor that impacts academic success come from the most affluent segments of our society. Both Chas Roemer and John White attended some of the most prestigious and expensive private schools in the country and have parents with long entries in Wikipedia. Just average folks, like you and me, ya know? These folks tell us all we need to do is raise our standards, our benchmarks, and “Believe”.

When you operate this way in good faith (let’s pretend that’s what they are doing) you might really think you are making a difference, that only belief and high expectations is all that are needed to overcome poverty, abuse, neglect, dilapidated buildings, disparate funding, corruption, waste, fraud and disabilities. You might ignore facts that deflate the bubble of belief you’ve surrounded yourself in. You might surround yourself with only facts and people that confirm your beliefs. This is a great psychological device taught to people fighting periodic or clinical depression, but it’s a terrible idea to operate this way when you are in a position of supervising policy, especially policy you’ve defined and are called upon to defend. This is the only explanation I have for why LDOE released some figures that show just how abysmally they have been running RSD and our education system into the ground. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for this lapse that led to some real data being released that verifies what I have been saying for years, but it’s really the only explanation I can come up with for why they released it and didn’t notice the full implications of the data they claim drives so many of their decisions.

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/newsroom/news-releases/2014/07/11/louisiana-cohort-graduation-rate-continues-to-increase
http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/default-source/data-management/final-exit-code-pre-reviews.pdf?sfvrsn=2

You see, under Paul Pastorek, Louisiana’s first Reformer de jour of a few years back, Louisiana stopped investigating and auditing data . . . especially data coming from charter schools and RSD. At the department we knew full well that the data was both crappy in quality and dreadful in composition. Incidentally Paul Pastorek is back in Louisiana to start a new education endeavor. At the Department we knew him as Little PP (he’s like 5 feet tall) to Paul Vallas’s Big P (Vallas is 6’5″) or sometimes as LDOE’s Napoleon due to his small stature and imperious nature.

Paul preparing to command his TFA minions into battle with the “Status Quo”

I prefer to think of Paul as “Yosemite Paul” due to his infamous first rallying speech to the department, where he told us that solve Louisiana’s education problems we need to shoot fast and first, without aiming because:

• we didn’t have the time to waste readying and aiming our Reform guns to fix what ailed our state
• and because they had no clue to do and still don’t but Reformers always like to be seen doing something.

Former Superintendent of Louisiana and Chief of Change, Paul Pastorek, getting ready to Reform this mofo. BAM!

When Bobby Jindal met John White I’m told Jindal thought he would have a more pliable and less volatile and willful minion than Paul Pastorek and almost immediately gave PP his walking papers. Fortunately PP went to school with Sean O’Keefe who is the current CEO of Airbus (they went to school together) and Paul was able to land on his feet as a useless random lawyer at EADS, a subsidiary of a European aerospace company.

So what does all this have to with dropouts you might ask? Well Paul had stopped auditing data during his tenure and he left under less than friendly terms. It’s quite likely he did not reveal all the skeletons shoved into LDOE closets. It appears that John White and his staff unwittingly stumbled across a walk-in closet loaded with them. I’ve tried to show what was in these closets over the years with these posts:

Here is one of my posts from September of 2012
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/louisianas-dropout-numbers-dont-add-up/
one from January 2013
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/new-orleans-graduate-rate-miracle-or-make-believe/
And in this post I express my doubts you will ever get these reports, or many others, working again. . .

https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/the-untold-data-crises-at-ldoe/
or this old nugget I wrote in March 2012 right after I left the department in February 2012.
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/louisianas-lack-of-an-accountability-system/

Recently LDOE did a partial audit of exit codes. In particular they were looking at some of the codes often used to hide “dropouts.” In practical terms, a student that does not graduate and stops going to school is a dropout. However, if the student, let’s say, transfers out of state, to a non-public school, goes the homeschool route, or dies. . .well we can’t really hold that school or any school we collect data on responsible for that, can we?

Exit codes were designed for schools to tell the state one of these situations has taken place. When this happens legitimately and is reported to the state in the form of an exit code, the state would no longer keep that student in the numerator or denominator. They are not a dropout. They are also not a graduate. They are a “legitimate leaver” in education parlance. When these legitimate leaver situations take place, records and documentation should take place. When a student transfers to a non-public school or homeschool the parents should fill out some withdrawal papers and the non-public school should make a “request for records.” Homeschooled students and parents also generate subsequent records, and students are required to take tests and provide updates about students’ progress. When a student transfers out of state the “receiving school” should have a record of the student, and that receiving school should make a request for records. These items go in students’ permanent files . . . if those documents are indeed generated, and really exist.

What often happens is this does not take place. What often happens is schools will “fix” their dropouts by simply coding all their dropouts as transferring out of state. They don’t graduate, although some districts simply code students with a graduate code too which really helps them out, but they don’t count against schools. Schools wanting to improve their images or escape accountability sanctions can freely “up code” their students from dropout to even graduates if they really want too, although the most common practice is to simply code them as “transferring out of state.” Historically this wasn’t a major issue, but as accountability has become more important, and as graduate cohort and dropout rates have become factored into as much as 25% of a school’s SPS score the incentive for up coding is enormous, the risk of getting caught or sanctioned very low, and this solution is easy breezy to do with plenty of people along the way able to claim ignorance and protected by plausible deniability if they ever do get caught.

What has happened to Louisiana and especially in RSD and probably charter schools and probably some traditional schools is that more and more schools have discovered the up coding secret and have used it to their advantage more and more every year. John White and LDOE made the mistake of actually doing a preliminary audit of these numbers and publishing them. Their “Reforms” are failures and their success is built upon lies. One of the metrics used to annually evaluate John White is the graduation cohort rate. Once LDOE realized just how bad this audit was his folks knew better than to turn over any more stones. But enough teasing, just how bad was it do you ask?

Try a 100% failure rate for RSD on for size.

I’m not kidding.

I think LDOE really felt all they needed to do was make the point that all direct run RSD schools will be closed this school year so it would finally be okay to release this type of info. Like, “hey, we know this is bad but we’ve released this report after closing them so there’s really nothing anyone can do and you should not waste your time worrying about them anymore.”

Believe me, this is not a one off, this is what all RSD info and stats look like when not masked or filtered. You might think hiding 14 dropout students is not a big deal, and you’re right in a sense. Of course LDOE should consider all students important, but RSD served thousands of students a year. . .what’s 14 out of 1400? The problem is this is just a very small sample that encountered 100% error rate. This is a small fraction of how many student RSD coded as transferring out of state without any documentation from this cohort. What’s more, this was done to make themselves look better than they were for many years, every year they were in existence, and they were always just about the worst in the state even with this help and the numerous instances of cheating I’ve gotten reports of and written about. Feel free to search my blog for examples.

So when I saw this report I asked LDOE if they wouldn’t mind giving me the schools behind these numbers, and the totals behind these partial audits. Much to my surprise they complied with my request. I still think they had no idea just how bad this info was. “Group Think” I suppose. They are victims of their own PR BS, and everyone left at the department is either a yes-man or knows better than to tell them they are wrong.

Here is the first report I received: Note: the obvious lack of charter schools on it. They were not audited (or even considered for auditing apparently.)

Data Notes: This report is for the May 2013 graduation cohort. Transfers out-of-state/country (exit code 10), transfers to private school (exit code 14), and transfers to home study (exit code 16) were included in the “legitimate leaver” review.
					LEA	Site code	Site name	Total Verified	Total Legitimate Leaver Exit Codes Reviewed (Codes 10, 14, 16)
					001	001007	Crowley High School	3	5
001	001021	Rayne High School	2	2
002	002001	Elizabeth High School	1	1
002	002004	Kinder High School	3	3
002	002006	Oakdale High School	6	8
003	003016	Dutchtown High School	11	12
004	004001	Assumption High School	2	2
006	006004	East Beauregard High School	2	3
006	006008	Merryville High School	3	4
006	006010	Singer High School	0	1
008	008001	Airline High School	8	11
008	008020	Parkway High School	7	10
009	009008	C.E. Byrd High School	6	9
009	009013	Captain Shreve High School	12	12
009	009025	Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy	0	3
010	010003	Alfred M. Barbe High School	14	15
010	010025	Sam Houston High School	4	4
010	010033	LaGrange High School	0	2
010	010052	Sulphur High School	16	21
010	010058	Washington/Marion Magnet High School	0	7
011	011001	Caldwell Parish High School	8	9
014	014009	Junction City High School	1	1
016	016008	Pelican All Saints High School	2	2
017	017010	Belaire High School	0	7
017	017088	Tara High School	1	6
017	017102	Woodlawn High School	5	9
019	019014	East Feliciana High School	1	2
022	022004	Georgetown High School	1	1
026	026010	Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School	2	7
026	026023	John Ehret High School	0	5
026	026051	Grace King High School	6	14
027	027006	Jennings High School	8	8
028	028002	Acadiana High School	4	9
028	028011	O. Comeaux High School	6	8
028	028019	Lafayette High School	8	11
029	029003	Central Lafourche High School	4	6
029	029026	South Lafourche High School	2	5
029	029029	Thibodaux High School	6	6
030	030006	LaSalle High School	3	4
031	031003	Choudrant High School	2	2
032	032024	Walker High School	6	8
032	032025	Walker Freshman High School	3	4
032	032042	Denham Springs Freshman High School	4	4
037	037036	West Monroe High School	8	11
040	040048	Tioga High School	4	6
049	049051	North Central High School	2	2
049	049052	Beau Chene High School	3	5
052	052013	Covington High School	3	8
052	052026	Mandeville High School	11	15
052	052035	Salmen High School	10	13
052	052037	Slidell High School	6	10
055	055015	Evergreen Junior High School	1	2
055	055020	Houma Junior High School	1	2
057	057001	Abbeville High School	10	10
057	057013	Kaplan High School	5	7
058	058006	Leesville High School	17	19
058	058009	Pickering High School	3	7
058	058012	Rosepine High School	3	4
060	060012	Minden High School	4	6
062	062001	Epps High School	2	3
064	064002	Calvin High School	2	2
067	067004	Zachary High School	6	6
069	069004	Central High School	3	7
318	318001	LSU Laboratory School	3	3
319	319001	Southern University Lab School	0	2
396	396004	Walter L. Cohen High School	0	2
396	396017	Sarah Towles Reed Senior High School	0	5
396	396026	G.W. Carver High School	0	4
396	396031	L. B. Landry High School	0	3

396 Is the LEA code for RSD New Orleans. This report shows the school LDOE audited were Cohen, Reed, Carver and Landry. They only asked for samples of 14 students at random and none of these students had any documentation to back up the transfer out of state. If you are curious about other districts and schools you can see their counts here. Some districts will legitimately have more transfers, like Leesville in Vernon Parish, which has Fort Polk. Some of these counts are dependent upon geography as well (Parishes bordering Arkansas and Texas have higher transfer rates, but not as many kids on the eastern part of the state like to move to Mississippi, the only state poorer than us. Go figure? However Orleans Parish had proper, code 036, had only around 30 transfers in the same exact geographic area. They don’t even show up on this report because the numbers are so low. I know this because I asked for the complete report of transfers, and I got that too! (At that point they cut me off realizing from my line of questioning how terrible the picture was that was developing.) I got my initial reports in a few days, and it’s been over a month since I’ve received any updates for my other inquiries. I was told those requests were sent to the “appropriate areas”, but I expect they will stay there until we get a Regime change at LDOE, BESE or the Governor’s office. Let me give you the second report so those who like to do their own analysis can do their own and confirm my findings if they choose.

The Louisiana Department of Education has modified and/or suppressed data reported to protect the privacy of students in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) codified at 20 U.S.C. 1232g. The strategies used to protect privacy vary and may include rounding or other techniques but do not substantially affect the general usefulness of the data. Because of the privacy protections, numerical and percentage totals may not add precisely to the sum of the row or column to which the total refers.
					Data Notes: This report is from preliminary data, prior to data certification, for the May 2013 graduation cohort. All cells indicate a count/raw number of exit codes. Schools without transfers out-of-state/country (exit code 10), transfers to private school (exit code 14), and transfers to home study (exit code 16) were not included. Closed schools are included if they had legitimate leaver codes.
Site code	Site name	Exit Code 10 (Out-of-State/Country)	Exit Code 14 (Private School)	Exit Code 16 (Home Study)
Statewide	Louisiana	4410	1042	1494
001005	Church Point High School	<10	<10	11
001007	Crowley High School	15	<10	22
001017	Midland High School	<10	<10	<10
001021	Rayne High School	12	<10	17
001034	Iota High School	<10	<10	<10
002001	Elizabeth High School	<10	<10	<10
002002	Fairview High School	<10	<10	<10
002004	Kinder High School	<10	13	<10
002006	Oakdale High School	<10	<10	16
002009	Oberlin High School	<10	<10	<10
002010	Reeves High School	<10	<10	<10
002014	Elizabeth High School	<10	<10	<10
003003	Donaldsonville High School	11	<10	<10
003005	East Ascension High School	32	<10	<10
003014	St. Amant High School	31	<10	<10
003016	Dutchtown High School	38	16	<10
003025	Ascension Parish Alternative School	<10	<10	<10
004001	Assumption High School	<10	<10	15
005004	Bunkie New Tech High School	11	<10	<10
005016	Marksville High School	16	<10	<10
005018	Avoyelles High School	<10	<10	<10
005025	LA School for Ag Science	<10	<10	<10
006002	DeRidder High School	38	<10	12
006004	East Beauregard High School	<10	<10	11
006008	Merryville High School	<10	<10	<10
006010	Singer High School	<10	<10	<10
006011	South Beauregard High School	<10	<10	13
006021	Beauregard Alternative School	<10	<10	<10
007001	Arcadia High School	<10	<10	<10
007002	Bienville High School	<10	<10	<10
007003	Castor High School	<10	<10	<10
007006	Gibsland-Coleman High School	<10	<10	<10
007008	Ringgold High School	<10	<10	<10
007009	Saline High School	<10	<10	<10
008001	Airline High School	83	<10	<10
008006	Benton High School	20	<10	<10
008009	Bossier High School	30	<10	<10
008017	Haughton High School	39	<10	<10
008020	Parkway High School	45	<10	<10
008022	LA New Tech at Plain Dealing	<10	<10	<10
008035	Butler Educational Complex	<10	<10	<10
008037	Charlotte Ann Mitchell Educational Center	<10	<10	<10
009008	C.E. Byrd High School	60	<10	<10
009012	Caddo Parish Magnet High School	23	<10	<10
009013	Captain Shreve High School	50	16	<10
009022	Fair Park College Preparatory Academy	14	<10	<10
009025	Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy	25	<10	<10
009031	Huntington High School	29	<10	<10
009042	North Caddo High School	17	<10	<10
009045	Northwood High School	15	<10	<10
009059	Southwood High School	26	<10	<10
009069	Booker T. Washington New Technology High School	16	<10	<10
009073	Woodlawn Leadership Academy	18	<10	<10
009076	Hamilton Terrace Learning Center	<10	<10	<10
009093	Shreveport Job Corps Opportunity Center	<10	<10	<10
009095	Hosston Alternative School	<10	<10	<10
009100	Academic Recovery and Career Discovery Center	<10	<10	<10
010003	Alfred M. Barbe High School	40	31	14
010004	Bell City High School	<10	<10	<10
010014	DeQuincy High School	<10	10	<10
010025	Sam Houston High School	14	23	10
010026	Iowa High School	<10	<10	<10
010033	LaGrange High School	29	18	10
010051	Starks High School	<10	<10	<10
010052	Sulphur High School	37	71	47
010056	Vinton High School	10	13	<10
010058	Washington/Marion Magnet High School	17	21	<10
010064	Westlake High School	11	<10	<10
010072	Calcasieu Parish Alternative School	<10	<10	<10
011001	Caldwell Parish High School	<10	<10	19
012003	Grand Lake High School	<10	<10	<10
012004	Hackberry High School	<10	<10	<10
012007	South Cameron High School	<10	<10	<10
013001	Block High School	<10	<10	<10
013005	Harrisonburg High School	<10	<10	<10
013011	Sicily Island High School	<10	<10	<10
013013	ASPIRE	<10	<10	<10
014002	Athens High School	<10	<10	<10
014004	Haynesville Jr./Sr. High School	<10	<10	<10
014007	Homer High School	13	<10	<10
014009	Junction City High School	<10	<10	<10
014011	Summerfield High School	<10	<10	<10
015002	Ferriday High School	<10	<10	<10
015006	Monterey High School	<10	<10	<10
015008	Vidalia High School	24	<10	<10
015014	Concordia Education Center	<10	<10	<10
016004	Logansport High School	<10	<10	<10
016007	Mansfield High School	<10	<10	<10
016008	Pelican All Saints High School	<10	<10	<10
016010	Stanley High School	<10	<10	<10
016012	North DeSoto High School	10	<10	<10
016022	DeSoto Career Academy	<10	<10	<10
017008	Baton Rouge Magnet High School	14	<10	<10
017010	Belaire High School	31	<10	<10
017016	Broadmoor Senior High School	25	<10	<10
017038	Glen Oaks Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
017045	Istrouma Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
017056	McKinley Senior High School	22	<10	<10
017063	Northdale Superintendent’s Academy	<10	<10	<10
017065	Northeast High School	<10	<10	<10
017079	Scotlandville Magnet High School	<10	<10	<10
017088	Tara High School	39	11	<10
017092	EBR Readiness Superintendent Academy	<10	<10	<10
017102	Woodlawn High School	47	19	12
017127	East Baton Rouge Laboratory Academy	<10	<10	<10
017129	EBR Acceleration Academy	<10	<10	<10
018002	General Trass High School	20	<10	<10
019013	East Feliciana Parish Enrichment Academy	<10	<10	<10
019014	East Feliciana High School	<10	<10	<10
020001	Basile High School	<10	<10	<10
020008	Mamou High School	<10	<10	<10
020010	Pine Prairie High School	<10	<10	<10
020014	Ville Platte High School	<10	<10	<10
020018	Evangeline Central School	<10	<10	<10
021007	Franklin Parish High School	17	<10	<10
021025	Horace G. White Sr. Learning Center	<10	<10	<10
022004	Georgetown High School	<10	<10	<10
022005	Grant High School	15	<10	<10
022006	Montgomery High School	<10	<10	<10
022011	Grant Academy	<10	<10	<10
023007	Delcambre High School	<10	<10	<10
023015	Jeanerette Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
023020	Loreauville High School	<10	<10	<10
023022	Westgate High School	24	<10	<10
023024	New Iberia Senior High School	30	<10	14
023037	Alternative Center for Education	<10	<10	<10
024010	Plaquemine Senior High School	14	<10	<10
024017	White Castle High School	<10	<10	<10
024025	East Iberville Elementary/High School	<10	<10	<10
024026	Iberville Parish Optional Education Center	<10	<10	<10
025005	Jonesboro-Hodge High School	<10	<10	<10
025007	Quitman High School	<10	<10	<10
025010	Weston High School	<10	<10	<10
026010	Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School	52	<10	<10
026017	Helen Cox High School	24	<10	<10
026022	East Jefferson High School	26	<10	<10
026023	John Ehret High School	42	<10	<10
026029	Fisher Middle/High School	<10	<10	<10
026031	Grand Isle High School	<10	<10	<10
026042	Haynes Academy School for Advanced Studies	<10	<10	<10
026045	L.W. Higgins High School	36	<10	<10
026051	Grace King High School	72	<10	<10
026068	Riverdale High School	21	<10	<10
026080	West Jefferson High School	33	<10	<10
026107	Thomas Jefferson High School for Advanced Studies	<10	<10	<10
026119	Martyn Academy for Career Preparation	<10	<10	<10
026120	Douglass Academy for Career Preparation	<10	<10	<10
026123	Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy	<10	<10	<10
027001	Elton High School	<10	<10	<10
027004	Hathaway High School	<10	<10	<10
027006	Jennings High School	10	<10	28
027010	Lacassine High School	<10	<10	<10
027012	Lake Arthur High School	<10	<10	<10
027014	Welsh High School	<10	<10	<10
028002	Acadiana High School	26	<10	17
028010	Carencro High School	20	<10	<10
028011	O. Comeaux High School	52	13	<10
028019	Lafayette High School	45	<10	<10
028027	Northside High School	<10	<10	<10
028046	Lafayette Charter High School	<10	<10	<10
028053	Early College Academy	<10	<10	<10
029003	Central Lafourche High School	15	<10	29
029026	South Lafourche High School	12	12	15
029029	Thibodaux High School	20	<10	24
029040	Virtual Academy of Lafourche	<10	<10	<10
030004	Jena High School	<10	<10	10
030006	LaSalle High School	<10	<10	<10
031003	Choudrant High School	<10	<10	10
031005	Dubach School	<10	<10	<10
031013	Ruston High School	23	<10	<10
031014	Simsboro High School	<10	<10	<10
031021	Lincoln Parish Career Academy	<10	<10	<10
032002	Albany High School	<10	<10	<10
032005	Denham Springs High School	26	<10	13
032008	Doyle High School	<10	<10	<10
032009	French Settlement High School	<10	<10	<10
032012	Holden High School	<10	<10	<10
032014	Live Oak High School	15	<10	11
032016	Pine Ridge School	<10	<10	<10
032017	Maurepas School	<10	<10	<10
032023	Springfield High School	<10	<10	<10
032024	Walker High School	21	<10	37
032025	Walker Freshman High School	<10	<10	<10
032042	Denham Springs Freshman High School	18	<10	<10
033002	Madison High School	14	<10	<10
034002	Bastrop High School	27	<10	<10
034022	Career Center	<10	<10	10
035009	Natchitoches Central High School	30	<10	<10
035026	Lakeview Junior & Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
035030	Frankie Ray Jackson Sr. Technical Center	<10	<10	<10
035032	Lakeview Annex	<10	<10	<10
036035	Warren Easton Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
036043	Benjamin Franklin High School	12	<10	<10
036064	Edna Karr High School	<10	<10	<10
036073	Priestley School of Architecture/Construction	<10	<10	<10
036079	Lusher Charter School	<10	<10	<10
036088	McDonogh #35 College Preparatory School	<10	<10	<10
036096	Eleanor McMain Secondary School	10	<10	<10
036163	New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics HS	11	<10	<10
037019	Ouachita Parish High School	36	<10	<10
037025	Ouachita Parish Alternative School Program	10	<10	<10
037032	Sterlington High School	<10	<10	<10
037036	West Monroe High School	56	<10	14
037046	West Ouachita High School	27	<10	<10
037049	Richwood High School	<10	<10	<10
038001	Belle Chasse High School	20	<10	<10
038013	South Plaquemines High School	<10	<10	<10
039003	Livonia High School	<10	<10	<10
040003	Alexandria Senior High School	24	<10	<10
040006	Bolton High School	18	<10	<10
040011	Buckeye High School	<10	<10	<10
040014	Glenmora High School	<10	<10	<10
040019	Learning Effective Attitudes & Discipline Ctr	<10	<10	<10
040028	Oak Hill High School	<10	<10	<10
040030	Peabody Magnet High School	15	<10	<10
040033	Pineville High School	38	<10	<10
040035	Plainview High School	<10	<10	<10
040037	Rapides High School	<10	<10	<10
040048	Tioga High School	21	<10	17
040055	Northwood High School	<10	<10	<10
040063	J.S. Slocum Learning Center	<10	<10	<10
041002	Red River High School	<10	<10	11
042001	Delhi High School	<10	<10	<10
042006	Mangham High School	<10	<10	<10
042008	Rayville High School	<10	<10	<10
043001	Converse High School	<10	<10	<10
043004	Florien High School	<10	<10	<10
043006	Many High School	<10	<10	<10
043008	Negreet High School	<10	<10	<10
043010	Pleasant Hill High School	<10	<10	<10
043012	Zwolle High School	<10	<10	<10
043017	Sabine Career Academy	<10	<10	<10
044006	Chalmette High School	34	<10	<10
045003	Destrehan High School	21	<10	<10
045005	Hahnville High School	22	<10	<10
046002	St. Helena Central High School	<10	<10	<10
047004	Lutcher High School	12	<10	<10
047008	St. James High School	<10	<10	<10
048001	East St. John High School	41	<10	<10
048013	West St. John High School	<10	<10	<10
048026	St. John Alternative School	<10	<10	<10
048027	Leon Godchaux Alternative Program	<10	<10	<10
049010	Eunice High School	14	<10	<10
049032	Opelousas Senior High School	16	<10	<10
049051	North Central High School	<10	<10	10
049052	Beau Chene High School	<10	<10	25
049053	Northwest High School	11	<10	<10
049056	Port Barre High School	<10	<10	<10
049057	St. Landry Accelerated Transition School	<10	<10	<10
049058	Magnet Academy for Cultural Arts	<10	<10	<10
050004	Breaux Bridge High School	<10	<10	<10
050008	Cecilia High School	<10	<10	<10
050017	St. Martinville Senior High School	13	<10	<10
050021	St. Martin Parish Juvenile Training Center	<10	<10	<10
051006	Berwick High School	<10	<10	<10
051007	Centerville High School	<10	<10	<10
051012	Franklin Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
051021	Morgan City High School	19	<10	<10
051024	Patterson High School	<10	<10	<10
051039	West St. Mary High School	<10	<10	<10
052013	Covington High School	45	<10	19
052026	Mandeville High School	39	15	<10
052029	Pearl River High School	23	<10	<10
052035	Salmen High School	48	<10	<10
052037	Slidell High School	60	<10	19
052039	Northshore High School	39	<10	<10
052052	Fontainebleau High School	26	<10	<10
052054	Operation Jumpstart West Alternative Program	<10	<10	<10
052055	Slidell Pathways School	<10	<10	<10
052061	Lakeshore High School	21	<10	<10
053002	Amite High School	<10	<10	<10
053009	Hammond High Magnet School	24	<10	<10
053012	Independence High School	13	<10	<10
053015	Kentwood High Magnet School	<10	<10	<10
053017	Loranger High School	11	<10	<10
053024	Ponchatoula High School	24	<10	<10
053029	Jewel M. Sumner High School	<10	<10	<10
053044	Tangipahoa Parish PM High School	<10	<10	<10
053045	Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Cntr.	<10	<10	<10
053052	Tangipahoa Alternative Solutions Programs	<10	<10	<10
054001	Tensas High School	<10	<10	<10
055005	H. L. Bourgeois High School	10	<10	<10
055013	Ellender Memorial High School	10	<10	<10
055015	Evergreen Junior High School	<10	<10	<10
055020	Houma Junior High School	<10	<10	<10
055031	Andrew Price School	<10	<10	<10
055034	South Terrebonne High School	<10	<10	<10
055036	Terrebonne High School	16	<10	<10
056002	Downsville Charter School	<10	<10	<10
056004	Union Parish High School	20	<10	<10
056010	Marion K-8 School	<10	<10	<10
056012	Spearsville K-8 School	<10	<10	<10
057001	Abbeville High School	11	<10	28
057006	Erath High School	<10	<10	11
057008	Gueydan High School	<10	<10	<10
057013	Kaplan High School	11	<10	16
057016	North Vermilion High School	<10	<10	<10
058001	Anacoco High School	<10	<10	<10
058003	Evans High School	<10	<10	<10
058004	Hicks High School	<10	<10	<10
058005	Hornbeck High School	<10	<10	<10
058006	Leesville High School	129	<10	11
058007	Leesville Junior High School	<10	<10	<10
058009	Pickering High School	45	<10	<10
058010	Pitkin High School	<10	<10	<10
058012	Rosepine High School	21	12	10
058013	Simpson High School	<10	<10	<10
058020	Vernon Parish Optional Program	<10	<10	<10
059006	Franklinton High School	19	<10	<10
059007	Mt. Hermon School	<10	<10	<10
059008	Pine School	11	<10	<10
059011	Varnado High School	<10	<10	<10
060005	Doyline High School	<10	<10	<10
060011	Webster Parish Achievement Center	<10	<10	<10
060012	Minden High School	11	<10	22
060018	Lakeside Junior-Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
060019	North Webster High School	25	<10	<10
060029	Hope Youth Ranch Alternative Center	<10	<10	<10
061001	Brusly High School	<10	<10	<10
061008	Port Allen High School	<10	<10	<10
062001	Epps High School	<10	<10	<10
062003	Forest School	<10	<10	<10
062005	Kilbourne High School	<10	<10	<10
062006	Oak Grove High School	<10	<10	<10
063003	West Feliciana High School	14	<10	<10
064001	Atlanta High School	<10	<10	<10
064002	Calvin High School	<10	<10	<10
064003	Dodson High School	<10	<10	<10
064009	Winnfield High School	<10	<10	<10
065002	Carroll High School	13	<10	<10
065014	Neville High School	31	<10	<10
065018	Wossman High School	25	<10	<10
065023	Sherrouse School	<10	<10	<10
065025	Career Development Center	<10	<10	<10
066002	Bogalusa High School	23	<10	<10
066013	Bogalusa New Tech High School	<10	<10	<10
067004	Zachary High School	26	19	<10
067009	Port Hudson Career Academy	<10	<10	<10
068002	Baker High School	<10	<10	<10
069004	Central High School	17	13	32
101034	Brentwood Hospital	<10	<10	<10
300003	Lake Area New Tech Early College High School	18	<10	<10
302006	Louisiana School for Math Science & the Arts	<10	<10	<10
304001	Louisiana School for the Deaf	<10	<10	<10
304002	Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired	<10	<10	<10
307001	Howard School	10	<10	<10
311001	AMIkids Southwest	<10	<10	<10
311002	AMIkids Baton Rouge	<10	<10	<10
311004	AMIkids Red River	<10	<10	<10
311006	AMIkids Northeast Louisiana	<10	<10	<10
318001	LSU Laboratory School	<10	10	<10
319001	Southern University Lab School	<10	<10	<10
323002	Grambling State University Lab High School	<10	<10	<10
333001	Avoyelles Public Charter School	<10	<10	<10
336001	Delhi Charter School	<10	<10	<10
343001	Madison Preparatory Academy	<10	<10	<10
343002	Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy	<10	<10	<10
344001	International High School of New Orleans	25	<10	<10
345001	Louisiana Connections Academy	<10	<10	13
361001	Crescent Leadership Academy	<10	<10	<10
362001	John McDonogh High School	18	<10	<10
369004	ReNEW Accelerated High School #1	<10	<10	<10
369005	ReNEW Accelerated High School #2	<10	<10	<10
377003	Pointe Coupee Central High School	<10	<10	<10
382001	Sci Academy	15	<10	<10
383001	Sojourner Truth Academy	<10	<10	<10
384001	Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business	<10	<10	<10
389001	Abramson Science & Technology Charter School	<10	<10	<10
395005	Lord Beaconsfield Landry-Oliver Perry Walker High	24	<10	<10
395007	Algiers Technology Academy	<10	<10	<10
396002	Joseph S. Clark Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
396004	Walter L. Cohen High School	29	<10	<10
396007	Fredrick A. Douglass High School	<10	<10	<10
396011	John McDonogh Senior High School	49	<10	<10
396017	Sarah Towles Reed Senior High School	39	<10	<10
396022	Schwarz Alternative School	12	<10	<10
396026	G.W. Carver High School	25	<10	<10
396031	L. B. Landry High School	20	<10	<10
396042	International High School	<10	<10	<10
396043	Greater Gentilly High School	<10	<10	<10
396044	Hope Academy	<10	<10	<10
396045	New Orleans Career Academy	<10	<10	<10
396202	Capitol High School	<10	<10	<10
396203	Abramson Science and Technology School	<10	<10	<10
396204	Istrouma Senior High School	<10	<10	<10
396207	Pointe Coupee Central High School	<10	<10	<10
397001	Sophie B. Wright Learning Academy	<10	<10	<10
399003	Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School	<10	<10	<10
A02002	Riverside Alternative High School	<10	<10	<10

What this report shows is that out of about 1400 cohort members for the graduation class of 2012 (the 2012 cohort is basically composed of all students that entered in 9^th grade in 2009, 10^th grade in 2010, 11^th in 2011 or 12^th grade in 2012 – minus legitimate leavers from the cohort), at a minimum 29+49+39+12+25+20 or a minimum of 174 students or 12.5% of the entire cohort and a maximum of around 210 or 15% of the entire cohort. What would this mean in practical terms? Try lowering the RSD’s grad rate to by far the lowest in the state.

http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/education/9697755-171/new-orleans-area-high-schools

Did the rate really dip in 2013, or did RSD just cheat less?

According to my figures their rate should have been closer to about 52% when correcting for invalid and undocumented exit codes or approximately 20% below the statewide graduation rate.

Wow.

If the cheating stayed the same (which is almost would have had to since this takes place over 4 years and can’t be stopped in just one) the graduation rate for RSD in New Orleans could be as low as 45% or probably the worst in the nation. What’s more is this is only half of the story, but I will have to document the rest in future posts . . . but it’s bad. Really bad. When I realized just how messed up this situation was, I admit I lost it when I was communicating with the department. I demanded they tell me what they were doing to find these kids, to help them, why they didn’t audit the rest of these numbers. I talked to Darryl Purpera, the legislative auditor, to notify him of this situation, and found myself withdrawing and recoiling in horror. My background is in accounting and auditing, and Darryl and I both know what it means when you do an audit and find 100% failure rate, and then don’t increase your sample size. You already know the answer and don’t want to confirm it.

I found myself paralyzed for a while with a little self-loathing for not doing more to help these kids sooner. . . hundreds, perhaps thousands of kids, discarded like some much garbage, and masked by a few unaudited pieces of data. I hoped I was wrong, that LDOE would tell me they were sorry and actively trying to contact these kids and families to find out what happened. I was hoping a new report would be forthcoming and prayed that it would, but it has not. I sent another entreaty to LDOE earlier this week to please give me something, because this is so horrible. I told them what I would be writing if they didn’t give me something to mitigate my report. . .but still nothing. And this is only the half of it. The situation could be much worse.

What’s more, LDOE did not even bother to audit John McDonogh even though they had 49 students exited form the cohort has transferring out of state, or roughly 50% of their cohort for that year. The newspapers reported a high graduate rate for John McDonogh before they were handed over to Steve Barr and Future Is Now, but before that charter operator failed them, they were massively failed for years by RSD, and they can’t or won’t even try to find out how bad that situation is. The community is asking that John McDonogh be given back to the Orleans Parish school system which boasts an 89% graduation rate, one of the highest in the State, and virtually no students transferring out of state (let alone fictitiously doing so.)

RSD has failed. They have failed worse than we may ever know, but so much worse than has ever been reported to date. The charters schools in Orleans are mostly D and F schools, and are not being audited or properly overseen by the state. There is no credible reason not to return John McDonogh back to the community. RSD turned this school into the worst school in the country, many times over and in worse ways than we will ever fully know. RSD has closed, but their undue, undemocratic dictatorial influence carries on.

And let me explain something else. LDOE adjusted cohort counts for students found to be undocumented in the audit. They did not adjust dropout figures and have no intention of doing so.

Jason –

 The review was about verifying that legitimate leaver codes were used and to determine if the necessary supporting documentation was maintained. For the 2014 cohort, all LEAs will be reviewed on legitimate leaver codes. This review was not about dropout rates.

LDOE will not do a full audit for the 2013 graduate counts. The first full audit won’t be done until 2014, long after RSD is closed and basically unauditable because they will have no school personnel and no records to review. But this is only a portion of the story, which has statewide implications. What I want you to carry away from this article is that RSD was not just a failure, that should never been touted as a success or duplicated, but that Louisiana’s graduate and dropout numbers are inflated and deflated respectively. I will show how in a more complex post than this one. I also want those debating the future of John McDonogh to understand this school must be given back to the New Orleans community. RSD is a fraudulent and irresponsible organization that discards children with arcane data and incompetence. They are closed but they are not without influence. I have asked RSD and LDOE a half dozen times over the last month what they plan to do about the hundreds of discarded children, fraudulently coded as transfers out of state, and they have refused to answer.

I would like to know the department’s reasoning for not investigating more fully the most extreme offenders. ..not just in RSD but Calcasieu,  EBR, Jefferson, Monroe and so forth.  Especially when you get such high error rates, like 100% for RSD, you have to be concerned if any of that data is valid, and what actually happened to those kids??  RSD is directly run by LDOE. Those kids disappeared on your watch. Is anyone trying to contact these kids and families to find out what happened?

We know the answer. LDOE and RSD are the least accountable education entities in the state and they must not be entrusted with our children anymore. Disband the RSD and give back John Mac. Anything else is child abuse, and anything less is sanctioning it.