Tag: Elementary education

Louisiana’s Education Programs Increase in National Ranking

Louisiana’s education system has been making positive strides, as indicated by the latest state rankings from the U.S. News & World Report. This widely-cited report includes education as one of the components of its annual Best States rankings, which evaluates all 50 states. In the 2023 rankings, Louisiana has moved up five places for Pre-K-12 education, now ranking 41st, according to this news release from the Louisiana Department of Education.

Dr. Cade Brumley, the State Superintendent of Education, attributed this improvement to the unwavering commitment of educators and policymakers to enhance the quality of education in Louisiana. “In a state long-challenged with educational outcomes, this movement is welcome news; however, we have a long way to go and must keep pushing forward.”

This uptick in performance aligns with positive data released earlier this school year on “The Nation’s Report Card,” also known as the NAEP. In that report, Louisiana’s fourth graders ranked first in the country in reading growth. According to the U.S. News & World Report, from 2019 to 2023, Louisiana has made an overall improvement in its Pre-K-12 ranking by five spots, moving from 46th to 41st. Categorically, Louisiana has seen the following improvements among all of the states:

College readiness has improved by two places, from 42nd to 40th; High school graduation has improved by eight places, from 45th to 37th; Math scores have improved by six places, from 50th to 44th; Reading scores have improved by 10 places, from 48th to 38th; and Preschool enrollment has improved by six places, from 15th to 9th.

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jenna Chiasson commented on the results by saying. “I commend the teachers of Louisiana who have shown such dedication to our students. They remained focused on academic excellence and these gains are the direct result of that relentless pursuit.”

These developments are a testament to the efforts of Louisiana’s educators and policymakers to improve the quality of education in the state. The progress is especially noteworthy considering the many challenges Louisiana’s educational system has faced in recent years. However, there is still work to be done to ensure that Louisiana’s students have access to high-quality education that prepares them for success in college and their future careers.

Through their Pre-K-12 rankings, the U.S. News & World Report evaluates a range of factors related to education in each state. These factors include college readiness, high school graduation rates, math and reading scores, and preschool enrollment. The rankings are based on a variety of sources, including the National Center for Education Statistics, the College Board, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In addition to these factors, the U.S. News & World Report also considers a state’s educational policies and funding.

The rankings take into account a state’s commitment to early childhood education, the availability of resources and support for teachers, and the state’s investment in education as a whole. By evaluating all of these factors, the U.S. News & World Report provides a comprehensive picture of how each state is performing in the area of Pre-K-12 education.

Other factors that have contributed to Louisiana’s improvement include: the state’s overall school performance score racing pre-pandemic levels; Louisiana students in grades 1-3 growing on the Fall Reading Report for a second consecutive year; Louisiana’s students earned the most significant year-over-year increase on state assessments since 2016, Louisiana’s students earned the most significant year-over-year increase on state assessments since 2016; and Louisiana’s 4th graders led the country in reading growth and the state’s overall ranking moved from 46th to 42nd among the states from 2019 to 2022 on NAEP.

In conclusion, the U.S. News & World Report rankings have played an essential role in evaluating the educational system’s progress in Louisiana and across the nation. The latest rankings indicate that Louisiana is moving in the right direction, and with continued efforts, the state’s educational system can achieve even greater heights.

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Improvement Shown on State’s Fall Reading Report

Reading scores are up in grades 1-3 across the state of Louisiana. Recently, the Louisiana Department of Education released its Fall 2022 Reading Report, showing how public school students in grades K-3 had scored on their annual literacy screener. According to the news release from LDOE, Louisiana’s overall score improved, and students in grades 1-3 showed growth for the second consecutive year. In fact, this year’s third-graders earned their highest score since 2018.

Dr. Cade Brumley, the Louisiana Superintendent of Education, offered words of ongoing encouragement by saying, “it’s good to see the continued reading progress for our students. Ensuring children can read must remain a fundamental priority in every school across our state.”

LDOE’s report, titled The Fall 2022 Reading Report, includes state, school system, and individual school data for public school students in grades K-3. School Systems are able to select from four research-based screening assessments to administer to their students, who will take this literacy screener within the first 30 days of a new school year. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year in August, the state adopted Louisiana’s first K-2 accountability plan, which included a uniform literacy screener for students in the early grades of their education.

Although the scores for students in grades 1-3 have increased for the second year in a row, the scores for students entering kindergarten have declined. These literacy screeners are administered to students within the first 30 days of a new school year, and they are able to capture a snapshot of a child’s reading ability as they enter into a new grade. Teachers then develop specific reading plans and alter instruction based on student scores to help them become proficient in reading by the end of their third-grade year.

Because Louisiana students entering kindergarten did not increase their reading scores from previous years, this is seen as the latest addition to data indicating the continued progress of Louisiana students following the unprecedented classroom disruptions that were caused by multiple hurricanes and the pandemic.

Earlier this semester, Louisiana’s statewide performance scores were released, and it indicated that the state’s scores were returning to a pre-pandemic level. This was in addition to the Nation’s Report Card being released in October, where it was indicated that Louisiana students had avoided some of the most dramatic learning losses seen across the nation. Lastly, when the LDOE released 2021-2022 LEAP scores this past August, it was shown that Mastery rates had improved in ELA and math for students in grades 3-8.

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jenna Chaisson spoke about the pacing of the state’s comprehensive literacy plan by saying, “Louisiana’s Comprehensive Literacy Plan is building momentum across the state, and we are beginning to see the impact of this foundational shift in how we teach children to read. Our youngest learners were the most impacted by the disruptions of the past few years. We have the support in place to keep our students in grades 1-3 on the right track and to accelerate the progress for our new kindergarten children.”

Both Louisiana law and policy from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) require that school systems in the state administer what’s known as a literary screener no later than thirty days after the beginning of a school year to all students in kindergarten, first, second, and third grade. This annual fall reading screening is seen as a vital tool for ensuring that all students are on the right track to becoming proficient readers by the end of their third-grade year. School systems are able to choose among four research-based screening assessments, each of which measures a particular skill or skills that are typically predictive of later reading success. The skills build upon each other from one grade level to the next and are appropriately matched to children’s ages and developmental stages.

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LSU’s BRBytes Increases Computer Science Access for K-12 Students

According to the Louisiana State University Office of Research and Economic Development, all professions in Louisiana requiring an adept knowledge of computer science and mathematical skills are expected to see immense growth over the next decade. With this trend, it’s becoming increasingly more and more important for students to be given the opportunity to study computer science before entering high school or at the very least be given a chance to learn about such career fields.

Luckily, that’s where the LSU team behind BRBytes is working to address that educational gap, and according to this research article published by the University as a part of 2021’s Computer Science Education Week, more Louisiana students in grades K-12 will be given this very chance by summer 2022.

Recently, LSU’s BRBytes has been growing rapidly and thus has committed to expanding their total program to elementary students in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. This means that by Summer 2022, an additional 3,000 students from kindergarten through 6th grade will be taught about opportunities in computer science learning and careers. BRBytes has stated that they will first focus on bringing this equitable access to traditionally underserved elementary schools in which the large majority of students may come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds or are underrepresented minorities.

In speaking on this expansion of the BRBytes program that doubles its capacity, Rose Kendrick, BRBytes program manager for LSU stated, “this expansion into lower grades connects with what we were already doing in middle schools and high schools. We were already planning and doing activities with younger siblings at family nights and such events in schools, so now we’re building on that to provide younger students with opportunities to learn about computer science in a fun and informal way, which will help us build toward bigger enrollments in later years, once those students reach middle school and high school.”

BRBytes is an LSU-sponsored organization that is a part of the national movement known as CSforALL, in which over a hundred diverse member organizations collaborate to raise awareness about computer science education and careers. This is accomplished by organizing more learning and teaching opportunities in public school systems across the United States. CSforALL’s mission reads that they aim “to make high-quality computer science an integral part of the educational experience of all K-12 students and teachers and to support student pathways to college and career success.”

What started as a computer science education initiative serving only a single parish had grown exponentially between 2018 and 2019 to 8 parishes, then to 14 parishes by fall 2020, and BRBytes is now currently active and operating in 22 parishes across Louisiana. In just 2021 alone, the program had doubled its number of enrolled students from 2,000 to 4,000 and had trained an additional 80 middle and high school teachers in summer 2021.

Juana Moreno is the team leader for BRBytes and a professor in the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy with a joint appointment in the LSU Center for Computation & Technology. When speaking to LSU press, he emphasized the massive importance of building such close partnerships with schools and expanding their teacher trainings and professional developments so that educators can teach students about how to use technology and other resources such as computational thinking skills in order to access more advanced knowledge.

Professor Moreno remarked that if the program is truly striving for a more diverse workforce in computing, then the central aim has to go beyond only giving students access to cool tools. In speaking about BRBytes, he said, “we all know and understand the need for more computer science education, and while it’s great to give kids their own Chromebook, for example, there also has to be a teacher there to teach them how to use them. It’s generally easier to hand out tools than to train people, and that’s why we’re committed to expanding BRBytes to help more students, schools, and teachers.”

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