BGCofNL plays role in Dubach school improvement

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana is proud to claim Dubach principal Tiffany Curry as one of its own.

Curry, who spent time as the Educational Coordinator for BGCofNL, paved the way to bring the Boys & Girls Club experience to Dubach Elementary in Fall 2021.

With a passion to serve children, Curry has now guided Dubach Elementary from being Lincoln Parish's only "D" graded school to one of the best-scoring schools in the district this past school year.

The Louisiana Department of Education recently released the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) Scores, and Dubach increased its percentage of students scoring as proficient in core classes for three consecutive school years in which testing took place. 

After nearly being shut down just a few years ago, Curry and her faculty had 40 percent of students score in the Mastery or Advanced categories on their end-of-year LEAP tests in 2023, which the state classifies as "proficient". 

"That makes it all worth it," Curry told The Ruston Daily Leader. "Hats off to everybody -- our teachers, our students, our stakeholders. We set the bar, and they met it and surpassed it."

Curry started as a coordinating teacher in 2020 and took over as principal in 2021. 

From 2019 to 2023, Dubach's proficiency rate has steadily increased each year from 26 to 40 percent with the biggest improvement coming this spring.

Dubach Elementary had 49 percent of its students testing as proficient in the English Language Arts portion of the LEAP test, increasing by 14 percent from its 35 percent rating in 2022. 

"It's huge for Dubach," Lincoln Parish Superintendent Ricky Durrett told The Ruston Daily Leader. "From where they were a few years ago as a D school to where we think they're going to be now (when school performance scores are released). It's going to be really great growth, and a real testament to what Tiffany Curry's done up there, what (former principal) Michelle Thrower did up there, and the teachers."

Curry and Durrett both credited BGCofNL, and its afterschool program at the school as a factor in the students' academic success. The program housed at the school provides a childcare option for working parents and a reliable place for students to study and do homework.

BGCofNL launched at Dubach in the Fall 2021 after the town government provided funding to pay staff for the first year. Dubach is one of 8 Clubhouses under the BGCofNL umbrella. 

The Ruston Daily Leader contributed to this article.