District staff walk board through Louisiana—s new Grow, Achieve, Thrive accountability system

Chief Okonsky presented details of Louisiana—s new Grow, Achieve, Thrive accountability system at the Sept. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, describing how the state will measure school and district performance beginning with the 202526#x2013;26 school year.

Okonsky told the board the state has simplified multiple indices into three broad areas: Grow, Achieve and, for high schools, Thrive. "Grow, Achieve, and Thrive is what we will live by," Chief Okonsky said. She described a 100-point scorecard that will replace the old multi-index scale and said the state plans a two-year bell-curve rollout before moving to a traditional A26#x2013;F scale.

The presentation laid out how the components are weighted and calculated. For K26ndash;8 sites, the scorecard will emphasize growth and achievement; Grow will represent approximately 54 percent of the K26ndash;8 score. For high schools the scorecard will include Grow (42 percent), Achieve and a Thrive component (about 25 percent) that addresses college- and career-readiness measures including graduation rate, nationally recognized exam cutoffs (SAT, ACT, WorkKeys Gold, ASVAB) and a three-path "college-career-acceleration" metric combining ACT/SAT/AP/IB/dual-enrollment results, career credentials or internships, and signed military/service-academy acceptance letters.

Okonsky used the analogy of a teacher—s grade book: the high-school card will average 12 component scores and K26ndash;8 will average nine. She explained how growth will be measured as a year-to-year change on LEAP scale scores and described how the state subdivided lower achievement levels into half-steps so students in lower bands can register measurable growth year-over-year.

On timeline, Okonsky said the LEAP scores released this school year will still be shown under the old formula (the last year that formula counts) while the state will also publish a parallel file that shows what results would look like under the new formula. All assessments taken during the 202526#x2013;26 year will be evaluated under Grow, Achieve, Thrive. "The headline is LEAP," Okonsky told the board when a member asked for a plain-language summary. "LEAP accounts for 75% now for our high school campus and 100% for K26ndash;8 in the achieve/grow combined."

Board members asked clarifying questions about district-level versus school-level grading; Okonsky explained district performance scores (LEAs) will be curved separately from school-level distributions, so a district letter grade may not mathematically mirror individual school grades. Board members also asked whether the state formula treats alternative schools differently; Okonsky said no new policy has been released for alternative schools and they will continue under current rules until guidance changes.

Chief Okonsky and staff said the state will apply a temporary bell curve for at least two years (top 10% = A, next 20% = B, next 40% = C, next 20% = D, bottom 10% = F) while it studies analytics and then will return to the board with updated grading rules. Okonsky said district staff will present the final data under the old formula in November and will continue providing staged briefings so the board and the public are familiar with both the old and new outputs.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation; staff said they will return with more detail at the next meeting and with the full spreadsheet of scores under the old formula in November.