[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Praise for school reform welcome

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: Praise for school reform welcome 

By: The Advocate
Published Wednesday, January 11, 2006
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/ourviews/2179467.html 

This is the time of year when we reflect on the power of positive resolve to
change things for the better. An example of what can be gained from such
resolve has just arrived with a new national ranking that designates
Louisiana as tops in the nation for its programs to improve teacher
performance and measure student progress in public schools.

Too often, Louisiana sits at the bottom of national education rankings. For
that reason alone, this new ranking from Education Week magazine is a
welcome change. The results mark the second consecutive year that the
state's efforts to improve public education have gotten praise from the
magazine, which tracks public education trends across the country.

Last year, Education Week said Louisiana had the top-rated program for
improving teacher quality, which many education experts say is the key
factor in improving student achievement. Last year, the magazine ranked
Louisiana second in the nation in how the state measures student
performance. 

Through its Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, the state typically
requires that fourth- and eighth-graders pass a test that measures basic
skills before they can go to the next grade. The assessment program has been
praised as a national model. After Hurricane Katrina, the state's top school
board, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, temporarily shelved
LEAP's pass-or-fail rule in response to the disruption caused by the storm.

It's not clear how the temporary suspension of LEAP's stringent requirements
will affect future Education Week rankings. As we have said before, while we
are sympathetic to the problems caused by Katrina and Hurricane Rita, we
don't think these challenges should be used as a repeated excuse for
additional suspensions of LEAP's requirements.

LEAP, along with Louisiana's efforts to improve teacher quality, send an
important message to the rest of the nation that we are serious about
improving public education in this state. In addition, Louisiana was among
seven states cited by Education Week for math gains by fourth- and
eighth-graders that outpaced the national average between 1992-2005.

Louisiana's efforts to reform public education will continue to be important
for many years because there is still so much to do. Improvements in reading
scores have remained fairly stagnant the past few years. As Education Week
also noted, Louisiana remains among the worst states in the nation in a
public-school quality category called classroom conditions. Among other
things, the ranking takes into account such factors as parental involvement,
school safety and dropout rates.

Thanks to the LEAP program, state leaders had sustained, empirical evidence
of just how dreadful many of New Orleans' public schools were performing.
That data provided much-needed momentum for state takeover of the Crescent
City's failing schools in the wake of Katrina, a measure recently approved
by state lawmakers.

Education Week's praise of Louisiana's public education reform efforts is a
timely reminder that mediocrity in public-school education isn't inevitable.
As Louisiana rebounds from two awful storms, the state must stay the course
and make sure these reforms remain on track. 


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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People
www.louisianahelp.org