Louisiana implements high school redesign this year
Louisiana high students will be facing stiffer graduation requirements beginning with this year’s incoming freshmen, reports the Shreveport Times. The long-awaited "High School Redesign" program is being implemented full force in schools this year. “Members of the Class of 2012 are going to be the ones pioneering this effort,” said Kathy Mouton, executive director of High School Redesign. “I don't think anything is being done to them but done for them.” Students automatically are enrolled in a program that is designed to better prepare them for college, but there's a point at which they can choose instead to receive industry-driven career training to prepare them for high-demand jobs. The new Louisiana Core 4 curriculum requires four years of English, math, science and social studies. Students must remain in that curriculum for two years before they can consider an alternative route to graduation known as the Louisiana Core Curriculum.
The Louisiana Core has fewer required courses than Core 4, primarily only three units each of science and social studies and no foreign languages. In opting for the less demanding curriculum, a student must get the approval of a parent or guardian and signatures on a form that includes the caution: “one consequence may be ineligibility to enter a state university.” Nonetheless, it is still a tougher curriculum than the one previous classes were required to complete to graduate. Regardless of their choice, “students are urged to have a career or academic endorsement” that they are working on, said Tammie McDaniel, a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She added that they are also urged to co-enroll in a nearby university, community college or technical college to earn higher-level credits while still in high school. Students in either core can enroll in training that leads to industry certification for specialized jobs.
The new curriculum also requires a different way of teaching, said Mouton. Teachers are to engage students more in learning and discussions of the subject matter, rather than lecture to them. “That type of instruction was thought to be only applicable to gifted and talented students,” she said. “Now we find it is applicable to all students.” Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen said that research has shown “the more we expect from students, the more they seem to produce.” Although implementing the new policy requires more of school systems, Lloyd Dressell of the Louisiana School Boards Association reported no system has complained to the association. “So I assume they're meeting all the obligations,” like hiring additional math teachers, he said. But it's early in the school year and schools are just now beginning to "get into the nuts and bolts" of the program, he said. "Sometimes programs need to be gotten into."
Source: Shreveport Times, 8/10/08, By Mike Hasten
[Editor’s Note: More information is available on the website of the state’s High School Redesign Commission, below. Also this week, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) issued its seventh annual report on state high school exit exams. The report, also below, features a separate profile of each of the 26 states that currently have or plan to implement such tests. It also highlights “a growing trend by states to move toward end-of-course exams, which usually are standards-based and assess mastery of specific course content,” as opposed to minimum-competency and comprehensive exams. More information on what the research shows about high-stakes testing is available at the third link from NSBA’s Center for Public Education.]
Louisiana High School Redesign Commission site
CEP report on high school exit exams
Center for Public Education report on high-stakes testing