by NNPA ESSA | Nov 8, 2017 | Education, ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), K12 Education, Louisiana
Opinion by Carol McCall — Much is written — especially nationally — about what is happening in
education in Louisiana. We should be cheering for our students and teachers as we do for our athletes and their coaches. By critically important measures, Louisiana has experienced and continues to experience major wins in education.
For more than 20 years, the state has been moving for higher standards and accountability. Now led by state Superintendent John White and his staff at the Department of Education, Louisiana has been nationally recognized for progress in a number of key areas.
Teacher preparation: Recognized by the Council of Chief State School Officers, Louisiana has built a collaboration between PreK-12 and higher education institutions for teacher preparation programs that include a year-long teacher internship program, to increase competence prior to entering the classroom.
Curriculum-driven reform: According to an article by national education policy journal Education Next, Louisiana’s education administration “has quietly engineered a system of curriculum-driven reforms that have prompted Louisiana’s public school teachers to change the quality of their instruction in measurable and observable ways.” These advances are unmatched in other states.
High school graduation rate: In 2005, 54 percent of Louisiana students graduated from high school, and now that number has significantly increased to 77 percent. These results come amidst a five-year push by Louisiana’s Department of Education to increase the number of graduates earning employer-validated “Jump Start” credentials and early college credits…
Carol McCall is chairwoman of the Education Committee for Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans.
Read the full story here.
by NNPA ESSA | Nov 8, 2017 | Education, ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), K12 Education, Louisiana
It’s not a required course or an exam, but Louisiana’s estimated 40,000 public high school seniors won’t be allowed to graduate without completing it.
“It” is the FAFSA – the free application for federal student aid – and the graduating class of 2018 is the first to be affected by the policy approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2015.
The form is used to determine student eligibility for financial aid, such as Pell grants, work study programs and federal student loans.
BESE, the governing and policymaking board for K-12 public schools, tethered completion of the federal application as a requirement for getting a high school diploma because of the historically low number of Louisiana students using the form. The state department of education officials said when students didn’t fill out the form, it created unnecessary financial barriers to postsecondary schools or training.
“We wanted to ensure equitable access to all students,” state education department spokeswoman Sydni Dunn said. “Too few students take advantage of state and federal aid.”
Although the state’s number of submissions is improving, Louisiana’s rank near the bottom among states for submission of the FAFSA form was the impetus for the policy two years ago, Dunn said. The amount of money left on the table is “staggering,” she said.
“By not completing the FAFSA, Louisiana students forego millions of dollars each year in federal grants, state opportunities and other post-secondary funding,” Dunn said. “This year, for example, it is estimated the 25 percent of students who did not submit the FAFSA, to date, may be missing out on more than $150 million in aid…
Read the full article here.
by NNPA ESSA | Oct 18, 2017 | Education, ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), K12 Education, Mississippi
A Mississippi school named after Confederate leader Jefferson Davis is changing its name to honor former President Barack Obama, The Clarion-Ledger reports.
The newspaper reports Davis Magnet International Baccalaureate World School is in Jackson, Miss, and is a predominantly black public elementary school. The president of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association told the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday night (Oct. 17) that “school stakeholders” voted to change the school’s name to Barack Obama Magnet IB. The report did not say who the stakeholders were.
“Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,” the PTA president told the board, according to the report.
Read the The Clarion-Ledger’s full story.
by NNPA ESSA | Oct 15, 2017 | ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), K12 Education
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is being removed from a junior-high reading list in a Mississippi school district.
The Sun Herald reports that Biloxi administrators pulled the novel from the 8th-grade curriculum this week. School board vice president Kenny Holloway says the district received complaints that some of the book’s language “makes people uncomfortable.”
Published in 1960, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee deals with racial inequality in a small Alabama town.
A message on the school’s website says “To Kill A Mockingbird” teaches students that compassion and empathy don’t depend upon race or education. Holloway says other books can teach the same lessons.
The book remains in Biloxi school libraries.
Read the full story here.
