FERRIDAY — Despite some setbacks, the Concordia Parish School District and Delta Charter School maintained their performance grades during the 2015-16 school year at C and B, respectively.

The Concordia Parish system featured one A school, Monterey High School; one B school, Vidalia High School; three C schools, Vidalia Junior High School and Vidalia upper and lower elementary schools; two D schools, Ferriday high and junior high schools; and two F schools, Ferriday lower and upper elementary schools.

Delta Charter school combines elementary through high school and is located at the old Huntington School facility in Ferriday.

Vidalia Junior High School was the only school to lose a letter grade, down from a B to a C. CPSO Interim Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said the school’s base score actually improved — from 81.4 to 82.4 — but the school did not earn the progress points which bumped it up to a B score this past year.

Progress points are received for students who were previously non-proficient but who exceeded expectations in academic achievement.

Delta Charter Instructional Director Buddy Givens said the decrease at his school is also attributable to losing progress points. In 2014-15, the school earned 10 progress points and was a “Top Gains School.” But only 4.4 points were earned this year, as the school’s score decreased from 92.6 to 86.8.

“I cautioned everyone those bonus points are hard to get,” Givens said. “I said, ‘It looks good now, but you need to be careful what you read into it.’

“One year you can get the bonus points, but the next year you might not.”

In Ferriday, despite being D schools, the high school and junior high showed growth over the prior year. The high school, with 93 percent of its students being economically disadvantaged, grew from 65.4 to a 69.

“Much of their growth is due to efforts being placed on ACT and WorkKeys,” Blankenstein said. “In previous years, only ACT scores were counted in the ACT Index. 2016 marked the first year that scores from WorkKeys also contributed to the school’s SPS.

“Now FHS is only 1 point from a C school.”

The base at Ferriday Junior High, with 98 percent of students economically disadvantaged, increased from 47.6 to 51.1 and the school received 1.9 additional progress points to score a 58.1, up from a 52.7 in 2014-15.

“FJHS has targeted more rigorous teaching of state standards as well as more effective use of data to drive instruction,” Blankenstein said. “Both schools have numerous incentives in place to motivate their students to do their best on the assessments.”

The district’s elementary schools all saw losses: Ferriday Lower decreased from 40.9 to 38.9; Ferriday Upper decreased from 40.9 to 38.9; Vidalia Lower from 82.4 to 78.5; and Vidalia Upper 82.4 to 78.5.

Blankenstein said the losses at Vidalia upper and lower were due to a loss of progress points.

“Elementary schools have made changes in intervention for students,” Blankenstein said. “The schools have additional data meetings and assessment reviews and Ferriday Lower and Upper are assisted with mentor and data support. The Harvest 21st Century Learning Grant provides afternoon tutoring and this year is held at each school site in Ferriday.”

Monterey High School, which like Delta Charter is a combination school, decreased from 110.3 to 112.1. The school actually grew its base score, but progress points decreased from 8.7 to 6.3.

Vidalia High School decreased from 98.5 to 98.1. The school increased in its base, but lost progress points from 8.4 to 4.4.

Blankenstein said in order for the district to improve to a B score overall, the schools collectively needed to improve by approximately 7 points.

“This increase can and will be made by our district — hopefully this year.” Blankenstein said. “Our January Professional Development Day was spent reviewing scores, identifying ways to reach non-proficient students, developing incentive programs for motivation and celebrating the small victories that we are making at each school.”

Givens said Delta Charter School is headed in the right direction.

“We increased in every tested area,” Givens said. “We just did not get as many bonus points.”

Givens said the school is making incremental gains, which will be a good thing in the long run.

“Having small, consistent growth is better than the big leaps,” Givens said. “When you have the big leaps, it is often because of some anomaly.”

The 2016-17 school year will feature the opportunity to potentially earn more points, as Delta Charter will graduate its first senior class. Having a senior class graduate will open up points for categories including graduation rate, ACT score and percent of students enrolling in college upon graduation.

“Generally, these factors increase scores,” Givens said. “Our goal is to be an A school, but we are happy with slow growth.”