NATCHEZ — The percentage of students in the Concordia Parish School District demonstrating “mastery” of English language arts, math and social studies held steady in tests given earlier this year.

The performance of the district mirrored the performance of students across the state, according to a report by the Louisiana Department of Education.

Results from 2018 Louisiana Education Assessment Program (LEAP 2025) test showed 34 percent of all students in grades 3-8 in Louisiana demonstrated “mastery” or better in English language arts, math and social studies, 1 percent more than last year’s tests.

In Concordia Parish, Monterey School students outperformed the state average. In Monterey, 47 percent of students demonstrated “mastery” or better, 1 percent less than last year.

Vidalia Upper Elementary performed slightly lower than the state average. Thirty-two percent of students in grades 3-8 demonstrated “mastery” or better on the LEAP 2025 test, 2 percentage points higher than last year.

At Vidalia Junior High School, 28 percent of students demonstrated “mastery” or better, 1 percentage point lower than last year.

Ferriday schools continued to perform below the state average. Fifteen percent of students at Ferriday Junior High School and 12 percent of students at Ferriday Upper Elementary demonstrated “mastery” or better on the LEAP 2025 test.

Concordia Parish School District Superintendent Whest Shirley said the results were “overall OK.”

“We showed some growth in some areas,” Shirley said. “The good thing is that we didn’t go backwards.”

Shirley said he was especially happy with scores among students with disabilities, students who are considered economically disadvantaged and other subgroups tested by the state.

“All of our subgroups showed pretty good gains, basically the rest of the district remained steady.”

Delta Charter School, which is separate from the Concordia Parish School District, also performed higher than the state average, although lower than last year. Thirty-eight percent of students in grades 3-8 demonstrated “mastery” or above, a 5 percentage point drop from last year.

Phone calls to Delta Charter School Tuesday afternoon were not answered.

The “mastery” level has become more important as Louisiana has raised the standards for schools. By 2025, schools will have to have students performing at the “mastery” level to achieve an A grade under the state’s school evaluation program.  Currently, the threshold is “basic” performance.

Shirley said the district has been busy this summer planning new programs and changing the curriculum to get the district to where it needs to be as standards are raised.

While Tuesday’s data focused on performance, state education superintendent John White said in an online news conference that more data, demonstrating how students in public schools have progressed, will be coming out next month.

Students’ performance and their improvement are both factors in the way schools are evaluated, White said.

Across the state, traditionally disadvantaged students continued to lag in performance, although slight improvement was made in some areas.

White said the continued gap between overall results and those of various disadvantaged students remains a problem. “It’s not getting wider but it’s not closing,” he said.

For instance, Tuesday’s figures showed 34 percent of students in grades 3-8 scoring at the mastery level overall in English arts, math and social studies, the percentage for those deemed economically disadvantaged was 26 percent. For black students it was 21 percent. In both cases it was a 1-percentage point increase from the year before. In both years, 11 percent of students with disabilities in those grades achieved mastery scores.

White said the figures show the need for improvement in social studies and mathematics. He said gains have already been made in social studies achievement. Part of the problem with math, he said, has been the state’s difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers with strong math teaching skills for higher grades.

He said a pilot program with more intensive instruction in algebra has shown progress.

Missing from Tuesday’s data were figures on science performance. White said that’s because the state education board authorized new standards only a year ago. The department said a science assessment test was being “field tested.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.