Northside High School Principal Melinda Voorhies says 19 duplicate scores found by NHS staffers could remove Lafayette's poorest performing high school from the state's list of academically unacceptable schools. Lafayette's poorest performing high school was labeled academically unacceptable in July when the state Department of Education said Northside fell six-tenths of a point shy of meeting the state's minimum benchmark school performance score, but errors detected by the school's staff have administrators hopeful that NHS' new SPS will exceed the minimum score of 75 needed to be removed from the state's list of academically unacceptable schools.
The Advocate reports that Northside High staff members have detected 19 duplicate scores that were used by LDOE to calculate Northside's school performance score of 2011-2012 SPS of 74.4. Although the school is waiting for the final word from the state, the errors detected should raise Northside's SPS by one-to-three points "or more," says Northside Principal Melinda Voorhies.
Voorhies shared the news Monday with the civic and government groups that comprise the Lafayette Public Education Stakeholders Council, which toured Northside High's campus and later endorsed the school's official turnaround plan enacted in February under the direction of Superintendent Pat Cooper.
Read more from The Advocate here.
For more on Northside's turnaround efforts, check out IND Monthly's March 7 cover story, "Viking Pride," and look for more on Northside's innovative improvement measures in the October edition of IND Monthly, set to hit stands Oct. 1.