AP World History course is dropping thousands of years of human events and critics are furious

AP World History course is dropping thousands of years of human events and critics are furious

by | Jun 17, 2018 | K12 Education, Louisiana, National

By The Washington Post

Since 2002, the AP World History course has covered thousands of years of human activity around the planet, starting 10,000 years back. But now the College Board, which owns the Advanced Placement program, wants to cut out most of that history and start the course at the year 1450 — and some teachers and students are appalled.

The College Board, which is a nonprofit organization, announced recently that it was making big changes in the course, and said it would publish an updated course and exam description next year for the 2019-20 school year. The more than 9,000 years that will no longer be covered in AP World History will instead be put into a new series of courses the College Board is creating for high schools that can afford to purchase it, called Pre-AP World History and Geography.

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Tulane recognizes father’s efforts in his autistic graduate’s success

Tulane recognizes father’s efforts in his autistic graduate’s success

by | May 29, 2018 | Autism, higher education, K12 Education, Louisiana, The Times Picayune

Graduation season comes with inspiring stories about remarkable students, and Tulane University recently shared one about one of its own graduates.

Ben Alexander, a nonverbal student with autism, graduated from Tulane May 19, with the support of his father who accompanied him to every class since 2014.

Dr. Sam Alexander told Tulane he always wanted his son Ben Alexander to have the same opportunities that Ben’s two siblings had, according to a Tulane news release. Sam Alexander, an obstetrician-gynecologist, lauded Tulane’s students and professors for always expressing acceptance toward his son, who communicates via computer.

“Obviously I wish he could have gone by himself, without his father hanging all over him. But what a wonderful experience it was,” Sam Alexander said in a statement.

Sam Alexander’s efforts were also praised by Patrick Randolph, director of Tulane’s Goldman Center for Student Accessibility. Randolph said Ben Alexander would likely not even be at Tulane if not “for the constant and unwavering support of his father.”

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Cypress Academy voices concerns over Orleans School Board takeover

Cypress Academy voices concerns over Orleans School Board takeover

by | May 26, 2018 | K12 Education, Louisiana, The Times Picayune

The Cypress Academy community took members of the Orleans Parish School Board to task Tuesday night (May 22) during a meeting at the Mid-City school hours after OPSB announced it would directly manage the charter school to keep it from closing by Wednesday.

Tuesday’s meeting was initially planned by the Cypress administration to explain to parents why its board voted on Sunday to merge the charter with the Lafayette Academy Extension at the Paul Dunbar Building in Hollygrove. The weekend announcement stated the school’s small headcount of students made it “very difficult” for the school to pay for the needs of its students.

Parents in the Cypress cafeteria audibly gasped after head of school Bob Berk told them Cypress has to raise about $600,000 to balance its budget for the next school year. Berk said Cypress even opened this school year on “a leaner model” than they did last year in an effort to maintain the school, which involved only using one co-teacher across grade levels instead of two. However, Berk said the school realized that the leaner model “wasn’t working school-wide.”

Berk said he managed to find a few donors willing to pay up to $250,000 to Cypress, but he acknowledged he did not feel like they would still be able to raise the full amount of funding in time. Several parents in the room filled with more than 30 people told Berk the board should have been more transparent with parents about their financial burdens…

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Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.

A record number of Louisiana high school graduates qualified for TOPS awards in 2017

A record number of Louisiana high school graduates qualified for TOPS awards in 2017

by | Apr 11, 2018 | K12 Education, Louisiana, Scholarships

By Wilborn P. Nobles III, wnobles@nola.com, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

For the first time ever, more than half of Louisiana’s high school graduates in 2017 were eligible for TOPS scholarships to attend college, according to the state’s Department of Education.

About 52 percent of 2017’s graduates statewide qualified for TOPS, according to a news release from the department. The increase in eligible students marks a gain of 18 percent since 2012, when 16,289 of graduates, or 45 percent, qualified for the scholarship program.

Eligibility is up in each of the four TOPS award categories, both compared with last year and with 2012, the department said.

In a released statement, Louisiana Superintendent John White called rising TOPS eligibility among graduates “another testament to the great work happening in K-12 classrooms across the state to prepare our students for success after high school.”

Number of students eligible for TOPS awards from 2012-2017
2017 19,220 3,220 4,235 6,662 5,103
2016 18,373 3,084 4,130 6,565 4,594
2015 17,955 2,793 4,074 6,800 4,318
2014 18,034 2,697 3,881 6,787 4,669
2013 17,438 2,551 3,893 6,718 4,276
2012 16,289 2,215 3,733 6,479 3,862

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Rex grants $1 million to 63 New Orleans schools, educational groups

Rex grants $1 million to 63 New Orleans schools, educational groups

by | Jan 13, 2018 | Education, K12 Education, Louisiana

By John Pope, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune

The Rex organization, which is best known for tossing beads, go-cups and doubloons as it parades on Mardi Gras, gave out much more valuable prizes on Saturday (Jan. 13) — grants totaling $1 million to 63 local education-related organizations.

The awards, which ranged from $1,500 to $60,000, came from the Pro Bono Publico Foundation, which the Rex organization formed after Hurricane Katrina to help rebuild the education system in the New Orleans area. The name comes from the krewe’s motto, which, in English, means “For the Public Good.” The money comes from Rex members as well as nonmembers, said Dr. Stephen Hales, a founding member of the foundation’s board.

“I’m proud to be a recipient,” said Julia Walker, chairwoman of the development committee of New Orleans College Prep, a charter-school operator that was given $30,000 for three schools.

“I don’t think there’s another organization in town that does so much for the charter schools,” Walker said.

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