After combining the Morehouse Parish Career Center and the Morehouse Parish Junior High Alternative School to make the Bastrop Learning Academy, the first year’s test results show students’ growth.

The academy partnered with ResCare Alternative Schools in the spring of 2008 to combine the two schools where students that failed to meet promotional standards for at least two years and were at least 13 years old attended.

According to secondary curriculum supervisor David Nordman, Learning Academy students are given the TABE, or Test of Adult Basic Education, three times a year. He said this is a series of tests “that determines the reading level, mathematics competency level, social studies skills and writing abilities. It’s what’s used by GED programs to determine readiness for GED.”

These tests were given on the Learning Academy campus in August, January and at the end of April to determine growth and eligibility of students to transfer back into the regular school system.

A report from the Morehouse Parish School Board said the student performance scores at the Learning Academy increased in reading by 16.7% and in math by 33.3%. This is based on students in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades at the school.

“We had 48% of the seventh grade able to promote back into the regular junior high setting for eighth grade,” Nordman said. “That is an improvement over the last year. I would attribute that to us following the comprehensive curriculum and the Grade Level Expectation’s for the seventh grade core subjects according to the Louisiana Department of Education.”

He said the students were also provided with “intensive after-school tutorials, reading interventions and extensive staff development with teachers provided by ResCare.”

The reading interventions, for example, were helpful for students that were in seventh grade but had a reading level of a child in the second grade. Nordman explained the student would not be given a book that was written with topics for a second grader, but a book that interested a junior high student about football, dating or music. The topics would have an older appeal but be written in a simpler way, such as for a second grader. The student would progress through the grades with this type of book.

“Three students in the eighth grade class qualified to promote as freshman to Bastrop High,” Nordman said. “We have 82% of the eighth graders can promote to Bastrop High by successfully completing summer remediation or summer school. This is a huge growth over the previous years.”

The ninth grade has 14% of the students that can promote to the tenth grade at Bastrop High School if they complete a LEAP retest. Nordman said this has never happened before.

The School Board report also said the student attendance in the academy increased by 9.9% as compared to the previous year, and student suspension decreased by 3.8% in overall suspensions.

“We would always like for them to do better, but we are proud of the progress that’s been made. We anticipate an even greater impact in the coming year due to the fact that we will be able to do more planning and preparation,” Nordman said. “This has been a learning process for the students, faculty and staff as we have developed a relationship with ResCare.”