ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / February 19, 2000

LAPLACE – It is a beautiful Saturday morning, and inside the New Wine Christian Fellowship church on West Airline Highway about 250 fourth- and eighth-graders are sitting at long tables, working intently on math problems.

The rooms are quiet with only the scribble of pencils as students work out solutions to such questions as: Nancy is training for cross-country track. On the first day she runs 3 milesand lifts weights. From then on she runs 3 miles a day and lifts weightsevery other day. In the first 7 days, on how many days did she both run 3miles and lift weights? Saturday? Math? Children? With only a month left, these children are being tutored for the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) tests. Thanks to the Rev. NeilBernard, New Wine Christian Fellowship has offered to help public school students in St. John the Baptist Parish as they study for that all-importantLEAP test. Bernard offered the church’s services to the St. John ParishSchool Board and it accepted gladly.

The kids don’t seem to mind the extra help, either. Despite the gloriousweather outside, and the fact it is a Saturday, most of the students inside the church are happy to be here.

“I don’t mind giving up my Saturdays,” says 14-year-old Rashad Oubre, an eighth-grader at Garyville/Mt.Airy Magnet School. “We get out at noonanyway.”LEAP is high-stakes testing. Fourth- and eighth-graders are required to takethe exams every March. If they do not pass the exams, they do not getpromoted to the next grade. Students who do not pass LEAP are offered asecond chance in summer school and take the exam again after summer school. All Louisiana public schools are being held accountable for thestudents’ performance on the LEAP exam.

Most of the students here for tutoring realize how important these tests are, and they are willing to give up a few hours of freedom to do better.

“Social studies and math are my worst subjects,” says a serious Landon Cook, a student at East St. John Elementary. He took a practice LEAP testlast year and doesn’t seem fazed by it. “The LEAP test is easy,” he boasts.”I’m just doing this because my daddy wants me to.”However, other reactions are more indicative of the fears these kids feel about the test.

Fourteen-year-old Shontell Green, who attends Garyville/Mt.Airy Magnet,says she is “sorta scared, because of the math, fractions and algebra.”Ten-year-old Tiffany Duhe agrees. “I think it will be pretty hard,” she says ofthe test. “The math and science will be the hardest.”Mynesha Williams states simply, “I don’t want to take it because it is going to be so hard.”To help out, Bernard has offered the members of his congregation as tutors and mentors for the 10 weeks of tutoring before the exams. The St. JohnSchool Board has put school buses at Bernard’s disposal to bring in students from all over the parish, and it provides the tutors with sample tests and sample questions. New Wine also supplies refreshments for the 15-minutebreak the kids get in their three-hour schedule at the church. The tutoringprogram, from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday, began Jan. 15 and willcontinue until March 11.

Despite the help, there are students who don’t think the LEAP test is a good idea.

“Even if you get all A’s you can’t pass if you fail the LEAP test,” sniffs 13- year-old Crystal Gauff. “It shouldn’t matter.”The students have just finished up four weeks of tutoring for the math section of the exam. On this day they are taking a mock exam. The resultswill tell the tutors how well the students have learned their lessons. Afterthe test the focus will begin a six-week tutoring program on language arts, reading and comprehension with a few minutes for math for those kids that still need it.

Bernard and his congregation are aware the future of the community rests on its educational system, and that is why they are lending a helping hand.

However, Bernard is still a little skeptical of what LEAP is trying to do.

“I believe there is a need for an assessment,” Bernard says. “But the idea ofone test being used to decide a student’s future is questionable.”Bernard thinks the students shouldn’t just be held accountable for the exam results, but also the teachers.

“The test results,” Bernard says, “should tell us what kind of changes we should make in the schools. Where can we make radical changes in theschool.”But as long as the state mandates the exams, Bernard is more than willing to lend a hand. Just giving the students a quiet and structured place to study isvery important to him.

“A highly structured environment, discipline, a good curriculum and good teachers are what a student needs,” says Bernard. “Until you have well-behaved kids, you cannot teach them.”Looking around the different rooms at New Wine, one can see that learning and teaching is going on. There are no kids running around, no loud voices. Children come up and speak to Bernard in polite, respectful tones.

“We do not tolerate any talking back,” says Bernard.

All the students are bent over their work, industriously writing and thinking.

There are no kids staring off into space or trying to bother others. There isa real sense of purpose here.

Tutors walk from table to table, cajoling, explaining and lightly scolding those who aren’t paying attention.

“What we and the tests are trying to do,” explains tutor Alvin Scioneaux, “is to get these kids geared up to think deductively.”Even the special education students and those with special needs are given instruction and care.

Darlene Hall, who directs the tutors, says, “We put all the special ed kids at one table and make sure they understand the exams. We read them thequestions and expect them to answer them just like everybody else.”Whether or not one agrees with the philosophy behind the LEAP exams, it is still good to see kids interested in learning and interested in doing well.

Briquiara Williams of Garyville/Mt. Airy Magnet says, “We should make thestandards higher. It’s good for everybody.”Tiffany Duhe says passing the LEAP exam is good because passing to the next grade is “like going into space or another time zone.”By the way, for those LEAP-challenged parents and adults who couldn’t get the question at the beginning of this article, Nancy will run and lift weights on the same day, four times in seven days.

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