VIDALIA &045;&045; While Ferriday, Monterey and Ridgecrest schools held relatively steady in overall performance according to state accountability measures, the biggest changes in the parish scores released Monday were in Vidalia.

The good news: Vidalia High School received exemplary academic growth status and worked its way out of being a level 1-school improvement site this year.

The bad news: Vidalia Junior High School had minimal academic growth and fell into the first level of school improvement.

School improvement is a term used to determine the progress a school is making. Schools that don’t meet their Average Yearly Progress based on test scores and attendance risk dropping into school improvement. A school improvement-level 1 school that still fails to meet AYP can become a level 2-school improvement school.

Concordia Parish has no schools in level 2-school improvement based on tests given last spring, but still has four schools in level 1.

Ferriday Junior High, Ferriday Lower and Ferriday Upper are in level 1 and received an academic warning performance label.

Ridgecrest Elementary, Monterey and VHS received three out of five stars, the highest rankings in the parish.

Vidalia Junior, Lower and Upper received two stars while Ferriday High School had one.

Superintendent Kerry Laster said she wasn’t necessarily happy with the schools that held steady as opposed to improving, but she did think having six schools that are not in any stage of improvement was a good thing. She said there is still work to be done in Ferriday to improve scores and climb out of school improvement.

&uot;We are doing some things,&uot; she said. &uot;I’m very concerned there. We have a difficult time getting the best of teachers to go there, but we are trying to do something in preparation for next year.&uot;

Laster said she was proud of VHS for making the improvements it did and has confidence that VJHS will not stay in level 1 for long.

&uot;I wish Vidalia Junior High had not gone down,&uot; she said. &uot;We probably just didn’t have a clear focus there. I have no doubts whatsoever that they will be right back up there next year. They should be. They have good kids with good parental involvement.&uot;

VJHS has a new principal, Paul Nelson,who transferred over from VLES at the start of this year. Laster said she was sure Nelson’s influence would show improvement in next year’s scores.

&uot;I’m concerned about it (VJHS scores), but I’m not super concerned about it,&uot; she said.

The schools that are in level 1 must have district assistance, as required by the state.

Under federal No Child Left Behind legislation, the state must also break down test scores according to subgroups of children. The only subgroups in place in the parish are minorities. All subgroups at all parish schools made AYP this year, something Laster said was important.

&uot;It’s really a plus,&uot; she said. &uot;We want to be able to close the gaps.&uot;

The accountability results are a combination of test scores on several tests.

The LEAP test and GEE 21 count 60 percent of the total. The Iowa test counts 30 percent, attendance counts 5 percent and dropouts count 5 percent.

The lower elementary schools are not judged on their individual scores and receive the same ranking as the upper elementary.