Spreading the Wealth- West Baton Rouge Parish, LA

“School becomes fun instead of a struggle. And when it’s fun, people seem to do better – there’s no great secret in that.”

David Corona, Superintendent of West Baton Rouge Parish

THE CHALLENGE

When David Corona became West Baton Rouge Parish’s superintendent in June 2004, he knew right away that the district was doing something right. Children were learning to read, test scores were increasing, and the students were getting the attention they needed to be successful. “It was very obvious to me that the people within the district were very faithful in the implementation of SFA, very diligent in how it was implemented, and very happy with the success that we were seeing,” he says. At that time, four schools were using SFA. Since then, three more schools have implemented this successful whole-school reform strategy, bringing the district total to seven schools. With the entire parish committed to SFA, the whole-school reform program needed to show it has evolved its methods to inspire further excellence in the long adopters and to prove to newcomers that it is at the forefront of innovation.

THE RESULTS

Corona credits SFA with helping schools continue to raise student scores year after year. “Every year we get better. And SFA is at the top of the list [of contributing factors] because it involves the gatekeeper of everything, which is the ability to read and comprehend,” he says.

Corona is proud of WBR’s track record during his tenure. Beginning in the 2006–07 school year, WBR’s District Performance Score (which indicates results on state standardized tests in language arts, math, science, and social studies for third through 11th graders) was 81.1. The following year it was 87.5, and it has increased every year since then. In the 2011–12 school year, the score was 105.5, bringing the school’s rating up from a D to a B grade on the state scale. He notes that SFA’s critical components have been a “great part of our rise in our District Performance Scores over the last several years.”

Both Ourso and Corona like the fact that SFA continues to evolve with national academic trends and keeps apace with the school district’s continual goal setting. “As different parts of SFA have progressed over time, we’ve progressed with them,” says Ourso. “It’s like a marriage made in heaven, really.” Key elements, such as critical thinking and cooperative learning, are especially relevant to impending Common Core State Standards.

Though West Baton Rouge continues to see academic achievement gains, Corona is pushing for even greater accomplishments. “We’re not going to be happy until we can get every child in our district on level with the ability to soar and thrive just like any other child,” he said. “They all deserve that opportunity.”