Message from Dr. Brumley: December 2019
The new year always brings opportunity for a fresh start. It’s not a fresh start we’re after anymore in Jefferson Parish Schools. We’re a district on the rise thanks to the hard work of our educators and the investment of our community. Just take a look at where we stand as the calendar turns to 2020.
Student growth was written all over our most recent school and district report cards. Our District Performance Score increased for the first time in four years. We earned a “B” for student growth and over a third of our schools were recognized for exceptional growth.
JP Schools is on the rise in Louisiana. In 2019, we led the state in Advanced Placement growth and outpaced the state for mastery rate increase. We also saw a 1.6% increase in our most recent graduation rates.
Our students are being taught with top-rated learning materials. We adopted a district-wide, standardized curriculum in ELA, math, social studies, and science. No matter what school a child attends, they will learn from the same high-quality curriculum.
Our teacher pay is now competitive with other successful Louisiana districts. Our teachers received their first pay raise in a decade when the citizens of Jefferson Parish passed a differentiated compensation model millage. And it passed with an unheard of 72% of the vote.
Our teachers are receiving more support. We’ve implemented the NIET instructional model district-wide. Teachers now have access to multiple career pathways, ongoing professional growth, instructionally-focused accountability, and performance-based compensation.
Our community and business partners are onboard. Just about every school in the district now has at least one community partner thanks to the Adopt-A-School program. Our partnerships with local business and industry has led to more internship opportunities for our students and an increase in the number of students earning high-skilled Industry Based Credentials prior to graduation.
Our district has a vision forward. Our board unanimously approved 2024: The Future Our Kids Deserve. This strategic plan sets the bar high for our district, which is the only place it should be. 2024 guides us in our work, led to most of the accomplishments listed here, and will result in even greater gains for our students and teachers.
We’re seeing progress across our district. None of this happens without a student-first commitment from every member of our school family. 2020 will come with its wins and its challenges. We’re going to keep kids at the center of every decision we make. That’s the only road forward, and it’s how we build on this strong foundation we’ve all worked so hard to create.