It was three  years ago when the state took Linwood Public School from Caddo Parish. At that  time the school was a complete failure based on student test scores.  
Fast forward to today,  failure is a word principal  Vickie Carroll doesn't like to use.

"The biggest  misconception is that we are not accountable.  One of the things we have learned is that people think we are governed by a separate set of standards. We have the same standards that the state sets for public schools because we are a public charter school," Carroll told KTBS.

Particular emphasis is given to English and Math.   Those are critical benchmarks for the 6th - 8th grade campus..

"The state really doesn't want to take this school back because they are not sure if  they can do any better at running it so they want to see the company succeed," says Scott Hughes of Alliance for Education.

  Carroll is willing to bet her job that students here will do well  on this years test,  in fact her job is on the line if they don't.

"We've been lucky. Last year we made  great gains. We had a 14% growth last year so we are starting to see the upwards shift"

Linwood was recently named  a Top Gains School by the state. 

If the school does not meet the accountability requirements this year, it could be transferred to another charter company, or directly run by the state's recovery school district