UPDATED: Tri-City area high schools maintain A grades

One St. Mary school raised its letter grade for the 2018-19 year in figures released Wednesday by the Louisiana Department of Education.

The district maintained its B letter grade.

"The 2019 District Performance Score (DPS) of 85.4 illustrates 3.5 points of growth from last year’s DPS of 81.9," Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said in a news release. "Additionally, given its significant degree of growth from the prior year’s performance level, St. Mary ranked ninth among the 70 school districts reported. As expected, St. Mary continues to outpace the state whose 2019 performance score of 77.1 demonstrates only one point of growth from 2018."

Also among the results highlighted in the release:

--Fourteen schools earn Honor Roll status for overall performance. The number of schools receiving a letter grade of “A” or “B” for their overall School Performance Score increased to 14.

--Seven schools earn Top Gains status. Schools receiving a letter grade of “A” for the Student Progress Index and earning the distinction of Top Gains Honorees include: J.S. Aucoin Elementary,Bayou Vista Elementary, Berwick Elementary, Franklin Junior High, LaGrange Elementary, Hattie Watts Elementary, and Wyandotte Elementary.

--Six earn Equity Honoree status. Schools who outperform 90% of all schools across various student groups and receive no intervention labels earn this distinction. The schools include: Berwick High, Morgan City High, Patterson High, Wyandotte Elementary, Norman Elementary, and West St. Mary High.

--J. B. Maitland makes the Early Childhood Education Honor Roll for the third year in a row. This school received a rating of “Excellent,” which is the highest possible rating on the annual performance evaluation.

According to the scores, LaGrange Elementary raised its school performance score from 56.6 to 60.6, moving up from a D to a C. The scores are based largely on student performance on standardized tests.

Two west St. Mary schools, Raintree and W.P. Foster, slipped from C to D.

The three east St. Mary public high schools, Patterson, Berwick and Morgan City, all raised their scores and maintained A grades.

Here are the results for St. Mary schools released Wednesday. Schools are shown with their 2018-19 letter grades and school performance scores, with their 2017-18 grades and scores in parentheses.

Bayou Visa Elementary, B, 88.9
(B, 87.7)
Hattie Watts Elementary, B, 86.6
(B, 82.6)
Wyandotte Elementary, B, 83.5
(B, 85.4)
Berwick Elementary, B, 83.3
(B, 82.9)
J.S. Aucoin Elementary, B, 80.1
(B, 83.8)
M.E Norman Elementary, B, 77.4
(B, 80.6)
Julia B. Maitland Elementary, D, 57.1
(D, 54.99)
Centerville High, B, 84
(B, 78.1)
Patterson Junior High, C, 67
(C, 69.6)
LaGrange Elementary C, 60.6
(D, 56.6)
Raintree Elementary, D, 59.1
(C, 65.2)
W.P. Foster Elementary, D, 52.6
(C, 62.8)
Franklin High, B, 83.3
(B, 77.1)
Berwick High, A, 108.7
(A, 102.8)
Morgan City High, A, 101.5
(A, 91.3)
Patterson High, A, 99
(A, 92.1)
Berwick Junior High, B, 86.4
(B, 83.6)
Morgan City Junior High, B, 76.9
(C, 73.6)
Boudreaux Middle, C, 69.3
(C, 70.6)
Franklin Junior High, C, 65.2
(C, 66.4)
West St. Mary High, B, 89.8
(B, 87.2)

The story has been changed to correct Morgan City Junior High's grade and score and add Patterson Junior High.