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ii. Executive Summary

This report contains a series of rigorous reviews and challenging recommendations regarding Webster Parish Public Schools. These result from a six-month comprehensive study by a team of national education and management experts. The study period began in April and extended through September of 2011. One hundred consultant days were spent in Webster Parish. This was a remarkably transformative time period in the operation of Webster Parish Schools. The school district reassigned students to different schools, undertook a dramatic reduction in the number of buildings, wrestled a daunting budget deficit, and undertook a search for and identified a new chief executive. All of these local activities and conditions took place against an unsettling national and international backdrop of unusual financial uncertainty, high domestic unemployment, ongoing global economic competition, intensified political partisanship, a seemingly never ending stream of broad scale natural disasters, and a sustained threat of terrorist activity. Given the above-described disturbing conditions, internal and external to Webster Parish, this report will appear to some as unusually hard-hitting. However, a reader should not infer from school deficiencies described in this report that Webster Parish educators and public officials have made huge mistakes. In fact, they have performed well and steered a prudent course on selected dimensions. Then, what has gone wrong? How could education matters be in need of so much change? The answer is that the external world, day-to-day events and conditions outside the control of Webster Parish, evolved far faster than has ever before happened in history. What was once acceptable and standard practice in the operation of schools is no longer sufficient. The entire education systemfor Webster Parish, the state of Louisiana, and the United Statesis being yanked into a new reality, a reality where what was once average is now insufficient, and now only excellence will well serve individual students, the local community, and the nation. Thus, the following constructive criticisms and considered remedies are not conditioned on what was credible or common in the past. Rather, they are calibrated around what is crucial to succeed in the future. An important caveat is in order. None of the following weaknesses are directed at or should be construed as resulting from a performance evaluation of individual Webster Parish officials or employees. No effort was made in this management study to appraise individual performance, only the performance of the district as a whole. Report participants are appreciative of the cooperation of all of Webster Parish.

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Monday, October 24, 2011 The Three Most Important Action Steps for the Webster Parish School Board and Superintendent Rebuild Public Regard

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The Spring 2011 decision to consolidate schools and reassign students was an unavoidable, absolutely correct, and enormously courageous action by the board. However, it also was a wrenching action from the perspective of the general public and many parents. Thus, Webster Parish district leaders actively must work to repair community confidence in the board and district. This is important because it is likely that, given trends in enrollment and finance, even more consolidation is in order in the future. Residents, as revealed by this studys citizen opinion poll, are generally pleased with Webster Parish as a place in which to reside and be hopeful regarding its future. This represents a reservoir or predisposition of favorable temperament from which to build back comparable confidence in the board and district. Finally, it should be noted that if student achievement escalates as is needed and commented upon below, public regard almost assuredly will be enhanced. Elevate Student Achievement Webster Parish should construct a Master Action Plan encompassing five years of action directed at substantially elevating students academic performance. Details regarding student academic performance are presented in subsequent report sections and chapters. However, a reader should understand that Webster Parish graduates are presently faring poorly at next stages of schooling. Societal expectations for academic accomplishment will only escalate higher. Webster Parish School District and all of its stakeholders should understand fully how dramatically the world has shifted and how fast the shift has occurred. What was once acceptable achievement is now regarded as insufficient. The board and administration should set a five-year goal to be at the state average, and a ten-year goal of leading Louisiana in student achievement. Balance Future Budgets The above-suggested actions will of necessity take place against a backdrop of fiscal stringency. Dwindling enrollments, an aging teacher workforce, and reductions in future state and federal funding will ensure a need for continued tightening. However, the district presently does not optimize returns on its JWG 3 Report Outline

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financial investment. It allocates funds in many less than desirable ways and corrections to these deficiencies will free resources both to balance future budgets and pursue higher academic achievement. If financial resources are properly managed, Webster Parish Schools can have both guns and butter. Top Ten Study Conclusions by Topical Area Academic Achievement When compared to school systems with similar demographic profiles and financial resources, Webster Parish academic achievement is near the bottom of Louisiana. Almost half of Webster Parish college-attending students, a small pool with which to begin, are accepted only if they agree to enroll in remedial courses. Three out of every four students from globally competitive overseas nations can read and perform mathematics on a level above Webster Parish high school students. Future Finances For three successive years, the school district has borrowed money to balance its budget. Future conditions, such as an aging educator workforce, shrinking enrollments, and pension fund obligations, portend continued painful financial challenges. School closures, while helpful, will eventually prove insufficient, and dramatic financial belt tightening, such as employee layoffs, will likely be needed. Performance Incentives Student academic achievement gains are not now a part of the incentive and reward system for Webster Parish educators. Effective Webster Parish teachers are now rewarded by elevation to nonteaching duties. Performance contracts concerned with academic achievement and fiduciary responsibility are not presently employed by Webster Parish to ensure that administrators are goal oriented and accountable for resources and success.

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Monday, October 24, 2011 Resource Allocation

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Webster Parish presently premises educator pay on employee conditions, characteristics, and categories unrelated to student achievement. Insufficient attention is now given to cost saving incentives in areas such as use of substitute teachers, building maintenance, food service, and utility usage. The district continues to have too many schools for its present and likely future enrollment. Curricular Matters There are insufficient offerings of advanced courses, online enrichments, course electives, after school activities, and attention to postsecondary institution requirements. Unnecessary small high schools restrict elective options. Education of students with special needs is a district high point. Personnel Matters Educator recruitment is geographically provincial. Educator workforce is superannuated. Promotions too narrowly draw upon in-house candidates. Facility Matters The past decade of constructing and renovating buildings is a district high point. Building maintenance is uneven in a manner that ages facilities prematurely. Existence of multiple capital funding authorities within the district is confusing to the public and administratively overcomplicated. District Governance Large and even number of school board positions hinders decision making. Dominance of single-member electoral districts and absence of district-wide

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Monday, October 24, 2011 school board representation impede consensus building.

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The school board acted commendably in selecting the new superintendent. Community engagement Community confidence in the school district is low. School board voter turnout is descending. Voluntarism and community engagement is low. Race Relations Judicial oversight impedes effective operation of the district. The end of judicially supervised racial desegregation is within reach if the current upward trajectory of racial trust is sustained. Recent school consolidations help. Ten Recommended School Board Policy and Administrative Actions The following recommendations are key to previously listed Webster Parish deficiencies. They are arranged in terms of their likely impact on needed change. There is nothing recommended that necessitates added revenues. Everything suggested can be accomplished by reallocating existing resources. A symbol (*) denotes recommendations likely to need explicit school board authorization to proceed. Other changes can be accomplished administratively. A composite index could quickly enable the school board and superintendent to observe the progress being made toward implementing these suggested changes. These ten recommendations are but expansions of the themes suggested in a previous set of paragraphs about the three most important needed changes. Commit publicly and realign financial resources to pursue dramatic and audacious goal of being the highest performing school district in Louisiana.* Webster Parish Schools need to inaugurate a new day and rededicate the district to a culture of high achievement. Being the best in the state is at once a clear challenge, an achievable end, and, as a goal, lends itself to precise measurement.

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By proclaiming a high goal, the district could regain a collective focus, attract added community support, gain notoriety, and generate new energy. Simply setting a goal, saying the words, will not accomplish the task, but it will start a process. That process will necessitate realigning resources with goals, and there will inevitably be a redistribution of money, power and prestige. That is where the conflict comes and major challenges begin. Reconfigure data and information systems to facilitate global, national, and interdistrict comparison and stimulate a drive for continuous improvement. Become measurement obsessed. Having a goal orientation necessitates good metrics to appraise progress. Webster Parish Schools already collect a great deal of performance data. The degree to which this is sufficient needs to be appraised. Regardless, even if more data or data in differing forms are needed, what is needed more is to reconfigure data to establish performance baselines and metrics than can capture and widely display performance progress, classroom-by-classroom, school-by-school, and Webster Parish relative to the state. Specify achievable district-wide and school specific academic achievement goals. By using available academic achievement data, it will be possible to establish realistic annual performance targets for each school, each grade level, and for the district as a whole. These targets then can serve as a basis for performance contracts with administrators and reward systems for individual teachers and for individual schools. Make measurable performance targets, goal-based contracts, and related performance premiums a part of every employees annual compensation.* There are many variants on academically oriented performance incentive systems for schools. There is no need for Webster Parish to reinvent this wheel. However, what is crucial is to ensure that performance ratings metrics are not uni-dimensional. Multiple metrics are needed to come closer to capturing the complexity of school operations and the spectrum of goals being pursued. Construct strategic plan for expanding course offerings and moving the district toward greater reliance upon computer-assisted and Internet-based instruction. With improved instruction cost savings, more student engagement can result from a thoughtful strategy for moving Webster Parish more deeply into computer assisted instruction (CAI). Incent teachers, and measure their response to expand their use of CAI. JWG 7 Report Outline

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Eliminate wasteful spending practices and replenish district financial reserves. Webster Parish can save money by reconfiguring educator salary schedules to pay for activities and conditions related to student achievement, constructing career ladders for teachers, and by inventing incentives to reduce costs in areas such as teacher aides, substitute teachers, maintenance, and food service. Savings can be used to restore financial reserves. Establish preventative maintenance schedules and work quality standards for each facility. There are excellent computerized information systems (e.g., Schooldude) that assist in scheduling and keeping track of facility maintenance matters. Reduce school board from 12 to 7 with at least three members elected at large.* Webster Parish school board has within its legislatively granted legal authority the ability to reshape the size and configuration of school board seats and electoral districts. The limits are nothing smaller than three and nothing larger than fifteen seats. In making a change, attention will have to be given to ensuring that there is no gerrymandering of electoral district boundaries that would disadvantage minority interests. This can be undertaken over time without any currently sitting member losing his or her presently elected seat. Public polling results demonstrate that Webster Parish citizens favor such a change. Establish Citizen-Educator Advisory Groups to facilitate racial trust and plan transition to unitary status.* Webster Parish now qualifies for unitary status on several criteria used by federal courts, so-called Green factors. Recent school attendance zone consolidations help in this regard. Cooperative planning among community and educator groups can satisfy remaining Green factors. For this to succeed, however, the school board will have to take the initiative. Cooperate with Webster Parish civic officials and faith-based organizations to resuscitate community engagement.* Successfully done, such community outreach efforts will begin to rebuild citizen confidence in the school board and the district.

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Monday, October 24, 2011 Report Summary

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What follows is a summary of each of the ten analytic reports that comprise the overall Peabody Associates study. Webster Parishs Evolving Context (Chapter I) Chapter I introduces the theme for this entire report. Webster Parish citizens, professional educators, parents, and pupils can no longer afford to be provincial or cavalier in their personal or economic perceptions. The time has come and gone in which a Webster Parish student can drop out of school and anticipate easily acquiring employment that pays middle class wages. The onset of a global economy has triggered the export of low skills jobs to foreign settings where a labor force is willing to work for less, often far less, than what used to be the case domestically in the United States. Recent losses to Webster Parish of an air conditioning manufacturing plant, a pulp mill, and an oil refinery illustrate this point practically. A nearby graphic relating individual lifetime income to education makes the point in a more abstract manner. However, it is not simply overseas migration of well-paying low skills jobs that is at issue. Those who are better educated than what has been the adult norm increasingly hold remaining jobs. The work lives of a plumber, electrician, tile layer, glass cutter, auto mechanic, road paver, machine operator, logger, or agricultural worker are increasingly cerebral as well as physical. So what? What is meant by the admonition for Webster Parish to Think Globally and Act Locally? There are at least two consequences to be considered. Practically speaking, what is being suggested here is that continued low expectations for student behavior, low levels of academic performance, low levels of high school graduation, low levels of college attendance and completion will consign Webster Parish pupils and their families to lifetime low levels of material wealth and, possibly, far less fulfillment in the other-than-material parts of ones life (e.g., being a spouse, being a good parent, being happy personally, and enjoying good health). The only even halfway sure means of warding off detrimental global economic consequences is for Webster Parish to commit itself to elevating academic expectations and performance. Second, raising standards is not a task for educators alone. Webster Parish must come to see itself as one community, and that community must reconnect with its schools.

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Synthetic Worklife Earnings Estimates by Highest Level of Educational Attainment

(In millions of 1999 dollars)
2.1 1 1.2 1.5 1.6 2.5

4.4 3.4

Academic Achievement (Chapter II) There is no denying the following reality. Webster Parish students, in the aggregate, are among the lowest academically performing in the state of Louisiana, a state that is itself low performing among all states in the nation, in a nation that is low performing among comparable industrial nations throughout the world. A nearby graphic displays all school districts in Louisiana. Here one can see that Webster Parish is virtually at the bottom of statewide student achievement. Moreover, the gap between the average student test score for Webster Parish and the average student score for the state of Louisiana is widening. Subgroups of students in Webster Parish, identified by race and socioeconomic status, underperform their peers statewide. Webster Parish underperforms when compared to comparable districts in Louisiana. The table below lists the characteristics of these districts (alphabetically, after Webster) as well as their per-pupil expenditure, 2010 District Performance Score (DPS), average composite ACT, and average proficiency level across all grades and subjects. The performance data in the last two columns are based on the results of tests administered in 2010. Here a reader can see that school districts

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that have a larger proportion of low income and minority students, and, some of which, spend less per pupil, out-perform Webster. District Webster Parish DeSoto Parish Evangeline Parish Lincoln Parish Sabine Parish St. Bernard Parish St. Martin Parish St. Mary Parish Enrollment Poverty 7,054 61% 4,923 66% 5,995 78% 6,663 60% 4,296 68% 5,916 73% 8,503 72% 9,465 71% Minority Expenditure 10 DPS 44% $10,601.24 85.0 51% $15,953.47 87.8 41% $10,198.00 91.6 53% $11,683.90 98.0 49% $10,290.12 98.6 41% $11,349.39 98.4 50% $ 9,145.80 87.3 53% $10,086.09 94.3 ACT 18.7 18.1 18.6 21.0 19.1 19.7 19.5 19.3 Prof. 59% 63% 71% 68% 74% 74% 64% 69%

Webster Parish students score in the bottom third in reading, and in the bottom quartile in mathematics, when compared to students in other industrialized nations. A youngster in Minden who wants a good job will be in a competitive queue behind 75 percent of his worldwide peers when it comes to his mathematics knowledge.

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Not many Webster Parish students attend and successfully complete college. As a whole, the first time college student data indicate that students who graduate from Webster Parish Schools are not fully prepared to attend the states colleges and universities. Percentage of Webster Parish First Time Freshmen (FTF) Enrolled in Developmental Courses by Year

2005-2006 176 total FTF 44.3% enrolled in developmental courses 36.9% math 19.3% English 7.4% reading 8.5% other developmental course

2006-2007 153 FTF 47.7% enrolled in developmental courses 37.3% math 26.1% English 7.2% reading 8.5% other developmental course

2007-2008 182 FTF 49.5% enrolled in developmental courses 46.7% math 17.6% English 9.9% reading 12.6% other developmental course

The Webster Parish high schools with the largest student populations were also the schools with the largest number of first time freshmen. These three schools had high percentages of students who were required to take developmental courses during their first year of college. Of the 76 students from Minden, 45 (59.2%) were required to take some type of remedial course. Four of the 7 (57%) students from Cotton Valley were enrolled in developmental classes, while 17 of the 30 (56.7%) students were from Lakeside.1 These conditions of low academic performance and lack of college readiness need not occur. Poverty is no longer an excuse. Demography is no longer destiny when it comes to educational achievement. Schools elsewhere in Louisiana, and in Webster Parish itself, display high levels of achievement. Financial Resources (Chapter III)

LDOE First Time Freshmen System Reports, 2005-2008.

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Monday, October 24, 2011 Webster Parish Public Schools face a perfect storm of fiscal instability.

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For several years running, the district has received less revenue than it spends. It has balanced its budgets by dipping into disappearing reserves. While the district has undertaken cost cutting steps, these actions are insufficient to ward off the revenue challenges that loom on the horizon. District professional educators are among the highest paid in Louisiana. Their productivity, measured by student academic performance, is among the lowest in the state. The district continues to misallocate scarce resources, spending money for conditions and procedures bearing little or no relationship to elevated student achievement. The following graphic most poignantly displays the financial dynamic characterizing Webster Parish Public Schools. Spending is up, enrollments are down, and achievement is stagnant.

Enrollment, Spending, and Achievement 2001-2009

12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 Current PPE 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Enrollment Average ACT Composite Score*

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Webster Parish has an awkward governance structure. Twelve single-member districts are too many, the absence of district-wide office holders impedes formation of an overall district outlook, and an even number of board members invites decision-making gridlock. The general public majority believes the situation should be changed. The school board has the authority to make change.

What Do You Think of the Size of Webster Parish's School Board?

Too Small 4% Don't Know 13%

Good Number 23%

Too Large 60%

The district is over managed from the central office. There are too many central office administrators, and school building principals are insufficiently empowered to operate their schools. This arrangement unnecessarily elevates costs, lowers morale, and restricts accountability. Webster Parish Public Schools are currently estranged from citizen stakeholders. This estrangement is reflected in decreasing voter turnout, uncontested elections, ingrown personnel practices, and high levels of polling dissatisfaction. The following graphic displays scientific opinion survey data illustrating the high degree of public apathy, dissatisfaction, and estrangement.

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Is the Webster Parish School Board Doing a Good Job?

Not Sure 18% No 46% Yes 36%

Personnel (Chapter V) To come from Surveys now being undertaken Curriculum and Culture (Chapter VI) The overwhelming impression of the Webster Parish Public School curriculum and school culture landscape is that it is adequate, but lacking in excitement. Science fairs, community engagement in plays, book fairs, athletic events, backto-school nights, and other activities and conditions frequently seen in other communities are only marginally present in Webster Parish. Webster Parish Public Schools adhere to the Louisiana state-specified curriculum. However, the large number of secondary schools, each with a relatively small number of enrolled students, leaves little room financially for an enriched set of subject offerings. Some students, but not many, take Advanced Placement courses online. However, further school consolidation and better management of the districts

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finances would permit an expansion of the districts secondary school course offerings. The district has done a good job with student discipline. Most schools in the district require students to adhere to a uniform dress and behavior code and major incidents of school crime or violence are rare. Little exists by way of extracurricular activities and after-school programs. There is surprisingly little engagement by civic organizations, parent volunteers, and churches in the provision of after-school programs, athletic events, and childcare. Special Education (Chapter VII) Special education is one of the high points in the provision of education services in Webster Parish. A history of able program administration has paid off in appropriate levels of identification of students in need of additional services, preventative activities, cooperation between professionals and parents in the design of individual educational programs, and the mitigation of what is often a highly adversarial and conflict-prone piece of school district operation. Students with disabilities, however, like general education students in Webster Parish, achieve at significantly lower levels than their counterparts across the state of Louisiana. The following graphic displays the distribution of special needs students throughout the districts schools.

Population Composition Webster and LA State Per 50 Cent

0 100

0.1 0.1 0.5 1.5

Am Ind Asian

41.9 46
Black

56.1 48.5 1.4 3.2

Hispanic White

Web-09

State-09

Accountability (Chapter VIII) Webster Parish Public Schools are currently challenged by a dysfunctional and perverse accountability and performance incentive system. Professional educators are presently rewarded for the wrong things. They are paid more, have more control over their time, have more interaction with adults, and are

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accorded higher status if they leave the classroom and hold positions such as counselors, administrators, or various kinds of specialists. The highest pay, short of principals and the superintendent, should be accorded the best classroom teachers. The best teachers are those whose students make the most progress toward higher academic achievement, high school graduation, college entrance and graduation, parental satisfaction, and instructional leadership. Presently, Webster Parish teachers are paid for longevity and college credits in addition to Bachelors degrees. These are not conditions that elevate student achievement. It is possible to design performance incentive systems for teachers, grade levels, entire schools, segments of the districts, for principals, and for the superintendent. A culture of performance and obsession with measurement of progress should come to perfuse the entire district. Facilities (Chapter IX) Generally, this is another Webster Parish success story. The community has been generous in supporting more than $100 million in capital improvements in the past decade. Most every school in the district is new, recently renovated, or soon scheduled to be renovated. All schools have new roofs. Every school is perfectly capable of supporting modern instruction. Recent consolidation of schools has facilitated more favorable racial desegregation and holds the promise of expanding the range of subject matter offerings at secondary schools. A facilities downside is that building maintenance is uneven and some of the new schools are already at risk of needing undue amounts of repair. Also, the existence of multiple bonding authorities in the district is confusing to the public and risks inefficient use of capital funds. Racial Desegregation (Chapter X) Webster Parish once operated a dual school system, one set of segregated schools for white and another for black students. The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education declared such racially segregated situations to be

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unconstitutional and Webster Parish Public Schools have been under federal court desegregation review for more than a quarter century.

Once courts became involved, school authorities have generally complied with judicial desegregation decisions, and Webster Parish Schools are less racially segregated now than historically. Recent school facility consolidations have furthered Webster Parish racial desegregation. Federal courts have specified that public school districts should strive to be declared unitary, and have specified criteria for a declaration of unitary status. These criteria are derived from a U.S. Supreme Court case labeled Green. Webster Parish appears to have made good progress toward meeting these Green area criteria, and is on the brink of being eligible. The Courts analysis for where Webster Parish stands in the Green areas follows:
Green area Students Factor Consolidation plan has positive effects on desegregation. Appropriate step towards achieving unitary status. Goal: 64% white teachers, 36% black teachers. Present ratio: 80% white, 20% black. Admin positions: 73%-26% exceeds 25% black staff required. Principal: 56%-43% exceeds 36% black principals required.

Faculty and Staff

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Assistant Principals 66%-33% under 34% required. Court recognition of difficulty in retaining, hiring teachers Bus routes changed by consolidation plan, no ruling on Green area. Check status of transportation following implementation of the new plan. Appears equitable on its face. No district documents submitted on facilities. Consolidation offers more extracurricular activities.

Transportation

Facilities Extracurriculars

Unitary status would free the school district to pursue needed instructional reforms with fewer impediments. Two conditions would assist in the pursuit of unitary status. One is elevating the academic achievement of African-American students. The other would be to create an atmosphere of greater inter-racial trust among Webster Parish citizens and parents.

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