By Rebecca Burk / L’Observateur / March 25, 1998

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish students are preparing to score highon LEAP and IOWA tests that will be given Monday.

Schools have been implementing two-week after-school assistance programs to tutor students who are having trouble in math, reading and language arts, said Glade Assistant Principal Deola Kendrick-Ellis.

The programs are four afternoons a week and last two hours each.

Students are recommended for the program, but it is not mandatory they participate. “We look at test scores and get input from teachers,”Kendrick-Ellis said. “We want to motivate the students to do better on allof their tests and to better themselves.”Kendrick-Ellis said about 100 students at Glade School are participating in the after-school assistance program.

Fourth-, sixth- and eighth-graders will take the IOWA test and third-, fifth- and seventh-graders will take the LEAP test.

In addition to the after-school assistance program, one Glade teacher thought a motivational speaker would be a great way to boost morale and test scores. So Mary Pierre, junior high teacher, got Stan Schofield, amotivational speaker who has spoken across the nation and worked with a variety of school districts to speak to the sixth-, seventh- and eighth- graders.

Schofield, former Second Ward High School (now West St. John High)football coach, got a rousing response from the loudly cheering crowd of students.

He warned them of the dangers of choosing the wrong things in life.

“Everything that looks good to you, trust me, is not good for you,” he said.

Pierre thinks the students got a lot from Schofield.

“I certainly think they will be encouraged to do well on the IOWA and the LEAP tests,” she said. “He’s a great motivator.””He definitely has their attention,” Kendrick-Ellis said among laughter and screams of agreement with Schofield’s speech. “Sometimes you don’tget that because the kids get bored, but he has their attention.”Pierre added that Schofield’s speech, which delved into things besides making good grades, helped the students with other problems.

“We wanted to stress self-discipline and respect, too,” Pierre said.

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