Louisiana’s top school board Monday voted to ask federal officials for permission to shelve the issuance of public school letter grades because of classroom upheaval sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education agreed to the request without dissent.
The U. S. Department of Education is expected to approve the proposal, and has already signed off on waiver requests from 45 or so other states, officials said.
The grades and school performance scores are traditionally announced in November and spell out how schools fared in the previous school year.
State officials announced earlier this month that math, English, science and social studies tests students took in the spring — called LEAP 2025 — plummeted in virtually every school district in the state.
Backers of the request said this year’s tests results are so flawed that it makes no sense to issue letter grades, and that the results also highlighted inequities among the 700,000 or so students on internet access for distance learning and other issues.
“We are not sure the results are purposeful or accurate,” said Janet Pope, executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association.
BESE voted after hearing state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley review the LEAP 2025 test results.
“I hope this is only a one-year pause because of unprecedented conditions,” Brumley said.
The results of the exams marked the first snapshot of how students fared amid classroom starts-and-stops, and distance learning for the entire school year for about 1 in 4 students.
The state’s goal is for students to reach mastery — the fourth highest of five achievement levels — by 2025.
But only 29% of students in grades 3-8 reached that mark compared to 34% in 2019.
Also, 32% of high school students reached mastery compared to 37% two years ago.
The test results make up the bulk of school performance scores, which are then linked to a letter grade.
In 2019 –the last available year — nearly 1 out of 4 public schools were rated D or F.
Another 16% got an A, 32% got a B and 29% got a C.
If students want to improve their scores, self-study becomes essential, particularly when faced with the challenge of mastering complex material.
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Caroline Roemer, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, said while there was some division among officials in her schools the majority favored a one-year waiver.
Mike Faulk, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, said the waiver makes sense because of classroom conditions.
“The state has faced some extraordinary circumstances over the past two years,” Faulk said.
He said issuing letter grades “would be detrimental to the state of Louisiana.”
The lone opponent of the waiver request was Daniel Espsarmer, CEO of The Pelican Institute, which calls itself a “free market think tank.”
“We have to know how the kids are doing, how the districts are performing,” Esparmer told BESE.
Doris Voitier, a BESE member and superintendent of the St. Bernard Parish school system, said education officials earlier this uniformly favored students taking the tests.
“And the reasons are to inform instruction,” Voitier said. “Every parent will know how their children did on the test.”
