BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The East Baton Rouge Parish School System earned a "C" rating for student achievement based on the latest report from the Louisiana Department of Education. The report, released on Wednesday, Nov. 20, said the district's performance score went up to 70.1, improving from last year's score by a point. According to a news release, performance score data shows that East Baton Rouge continues to "narrow the achievement gap and make academic progress with 98% of district schools earning a letter grade of A, B, or C in the state's Progress Index." Forty-five schools improved their numerical scores, while 13 schools grew a letter grade, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. According to a news release, three schools, including Merrydale Elementary School, Jefferson Terrace Academy and EBR Virtual left Academically Unacceptable School status. Dutchtown Middle gets highest school score in Louisiana. Did local schools make the grade? Twenty-four schools earned the Top Gains Award and 11 individual sites earned Opportunity Awards "for being in the top 10% for performance among students with disabilities, English learners or economically disadvantaged students," according to a news release. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System highlighted that the Mayfair Laboratory School ranked third for performance for K-8 sites, BASIS Mid-City and Helix Aviation ranked first and third for one-year gains, Baton Rouge Magnet High School ranked sixth in academic performance, BASIS Materra ranked eighth for improvement of schools who serve students in grades 9-12 and EBR Readiness ranked ninth for improvement among statewide alternative schools. The EBR Early Childhood Community Network improved overall from a 5.45 rating to a 5.60 "maintaining its high proficiency early childhood rating and increased more than half of its proficiency centers to an excellent rating," according to a news release. Read a statement from Superintendent LaMont Cole. “As we continue our commitment to excellence, it’s crucial that we acknowledge the challenges and disparities in our D and F schools. To foster meaningful growth, we will be implementing proven instructional tactics and leveraging partnerships with business and community organizations to uplift our students. With this collective dedication and strategic focus, we will work to provide every student with the tools and resources they need to succeed.” EBR Schools Superintendent LaMont Cole Latest News Baton Rouge steakhouse named in OpenTable's 'Top 100 Restaurants' for 2024 Gaetz withdraws from attorney general consideration Whooping cough cases have quintupled in US. See the number of cases in Louisiana DOJ asks judge to order Google to sell Chrome Wisconsin man who faked his own kayaking death fled the country and won't come home, officials say