Update Dec. 1, 2023:

At a special Orleans Parish School Board on Dec. 4, Superintendent Avis Williams will propose ending contracts with three charter schools: Lafayette Academy, Living School and Moton Elementary’s contracts. This typically means either school closures or takeovers by a new charter operator.

Williams has recommended renewing or extending contracts for following schools: Edward Hynes Charter School (UNO), Esperanza Academy, Foundation Prep, John F. Kennedy High School, KIPP East, KIPP Leadership, L.B. Landry High School, McDonogh 35 Senior High School, New Orleans Accelerated High School, Opportunities Academy, Phillis Wheatley Community School, ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary, ReNEW Laurel Elementary School, ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary, Samuel J. Green Charter School, Sci High, Sophie B. Wright HS, and Success @ Thurgood Marshall.

Follow The Lens for continued coverage about these contracts.

Original Story:

The Louisiana Department of Education released its annual A through F letter grades today (Monday). The most common school grade was a C, followed by D: nearly 70% of city schools rated a C or D.

Failing scores came at a bad time for two New Orleans schools, Lafayette Academy Charter School and Robert Russa Moton Charter School. The schools face high-stakes contract decisions that will be announced in the coming weeks. The F scores places place them in danger of losing their charter contract and shuttering at the end of the school year. One in four district schools are up for contract decisions this fall.

Overall, the NOLA Public Schools district received a C letter grade overall, the same as last year, inching up a few points from 66.6 to 69.8. Both district and school scores are calculated on a 150-point scale.

The state used to base school letter grades purely on state standardized test scores. As of a few years ago, those scores are often mitigated with a new “progress index,” that calculates how much students improved year over year. So while NOLA Public Schools overall received an F for its assessments — the standardized test scores — it received a A in growth.

Esperanza Academy, which district officials projected last month to receive at F, received a D, making it more likely to receive approval for its contract extension to remain open for the final year of its initial five-year contract.

State officials noted two New Orleans elementary schools, ReNEW Schaumburg and Success at Thurgood Marshall showed the highest growth in the state. Two city high schools, G.W. Carver High School and Kennedy High School ranked among the top ten most improved high schools in the state.

While state officials said they were pleased by growth across the state, they emphasized the need to continue to increase performance scores.

“There is no doubt both the pandemic and a series of hurricanes have impacted (results),” LDOE spokesman Ted Beasley said.

A total of five schools schools received an F: Lafayette Academy Charter School, Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School for Sci Tech, Robert Russa Moton Charter School, McDonogh 42 Charter School and The Living School.

Of those schools McDonogh 42 Charter was closed at the end of last school year by its operator InspireNOLA, which decided to combine the charter with another school it runs, Pierre Capdau Charter School.

Six New Orleans schools received the coveted A letter grade: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Edward Hynes Charter School – Lakeview, Audubon Charter School, Benjamin Franklin High School, The Willow School (formerly Lusher Charter School) and Lake Forest Elementary Charter School.

Another eight received a B. They are: International School of Louisiana, Lycee Francais de la Nouvelle-Orleans, New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy, G. W. Carver High School, Frederick A. Douglass High School, Alice M Harte Elementary Charter School, Edna Karr High School and Warren Easton Charter High School.

Thirty-two schools received a C and 16 got a D. Five New Orleans charters received an F.

View the 2023 School Performance Scores by school:

Correction: This article was corrected to reflect the accurate closing date of McDonogh 42.