‘LaPolitics’: BESE looks to maintain a ‘winning strategy’ on school testing

The contract to provide the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program tests expires in 2027, which means the procurement process is a top agenda item for the current Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

Members want an “in-depth dive” into testing, “not only what the tests look like, but how they’re formed and what best fits our children today,” says Simone Champagne, a former legislator who was appointed to the board by Gov. Jeff Landry. 

As other states struggle to make up pandemic learning losses, Louisiana’s K-12 education system has made significant, measurable gains. Louisiana students ranked 32nd nationally on the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress test, sometimes called “the nation’s report card.” While that might not necessarily sound very impressive, the state ranked 49th five years ago. 

“We recognize we’ve got a winning strategy,” says BESE President Ronnie Morris, an elected member. “We need to stay the course.” 

Balancing those strides with aggressive changes, like possibly to the LEAP test in some form or fashion, will be the trick moving forward, says Conrad Appel, a former state lawmaker and current at-large BESE member appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry. 

So what, specifically, are BESE members thinking about? For starters, according to Appel, not enough Louisiana high school graduates are considered proficient in math or English. “We want to continue what we’re doing, but we also don’t want to turn the heat off,” Appel says. 

—They said it: “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.” — President Donald Trump on whether the U.S. will join Israel’s military strikes against Iran, reported by Annmarie Hordern with Bloomberg TV