By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The Louisiana Department of Education released a set of proposals to the Superintendents’ Advisory Council recently designed to safeguard schools and students, regarding the state’s decision to shift to Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing for the future.
The department said it would maintain its plan to begin administering the new tests to children in grades three through eight beginning in spring 2015. The department will gradually raise the definition of “proficient” over the next couple of years so that students and educators have time to meet the higher expectations. As a precautionary measure, the department will also propose a rule to prevent school letter grades from dropping more than one letter during the first year of PARCC implementation.
Representatives at the department of education
said they do not expect students’ scores to change drastically after the shift, based
on a side-by-side comparison of the most recent results from the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program and National Assessments of Educational Progress.
Data collected by the department showed 73 percent of fourth-graders scoring level three or higher on the math portion of NAEP, and 71 percent in the same portion on LEAP. The percentage results remained fairly consistent for eighth-grade students — 63 percent scored level three or higher on NAEP; 66 percent scored level three or higher on LEAP.
Fifty-five percent of fourth-graders scored level three or higher on the English language arts portion of NAEP, while 77 percent scored similarly in the same portion on LEAP. For eighth-graders, 66 percent scored level three or higher on the English language arts portion of NAEP, compared with 69 percent in the same portion on LEAP.
By shifting to PARCC testing, the department hopes to put students in the state on a “level playing field” with their peers across the country, allow for more accurate performance comparisons and ensure college readiness.
Superintendent John White discussed the proposals with educators on his statewide tour, and LDOE officials
said they invite public questions and comments until they present finalized versions to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in December. Department representatives also said they would address high school policies in future meetings.