The only people who worry more about grades than students are their teachers. The annual publication of Louisiana’s school performance scores was a major source of anxiety in the school I worked in last year. If a school gets a bad grade, fewer families want to enroll their kids there; if the school is under-enrolled, it gets less money; if it gets less money, then it’s going to be a struggle to raise the score and attract more students. And if a school gets a failing grade for long enough, it gets shut down.
I’m not working in education anymore, but I’m still interested in seeing how New Orleans schools are doing. When I look at these grades, I don’t just think of them as a number. I think of how the schools will react to them: how the scores will fill teachers and administrators with either worry or pride, how staff might scramble to respond; how the grades could cast a shadow over the rest of the year.
With that in mind, take a look at this custom-made map of every public school in New Orleans and their grades over the years. A schools are blue, B is green, C is yellow, D is purple, and F is red. Click on the link above for an interactive version.
Pedamagog 