According to the Louisiana Department of Education, “Louisiana’s revamped report card system and a set of its key education initiatives have earned national praise from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). In recent weeks, the national non-profit organization has published two separate reports that hold up Louisiana as an exemplar for equipping families and educators with the tools and resources needed to promote school quality and ensure equity for all children.”
“Today, the national organization released “A School Finder to Empower: Case Study of Louisiana’s New School Report Card,” which details how Louisiana developed and implemented reporting tools to better meet the needs of families and educators, and outlines lessons learned to help other states that are redesigning their own accountability systems.”
For more information on the new report card system, click here.
Louisiana is doing big things to make a difference in the lives of their youth. Starting at the bottom, the Louisiana Department of Education awarded a $1.5 million grant funding the improvement of early childhood education and its quality. The eight communities affected by this grant include: Calcasieu, Concordia, Iberville, Jefferson, Orleans, Rapides, St. John the Baptist, and Tangipahoa parishes.
The Department of Education stated on their website, “The grant, a supplement to the federal Preschool Development Grant, will provide teachers at low-performing sites in eight communities with professional development designed to strengthen teacher-child interactions and classroom instruction and to improve kindergarten readiness.”
For more information on the funding, you can read the full article here.
As we get close to the end of the school year for thousands of Louisiana seniors, the Louisiana Department of Education has a special section on their website that you can find here that will help seniors apply for financial aid. As stated on their website, “Most Louisiana high school graduates are eligible for some form of merit- or need-based financial aid. Students can apply for state and federal financial aid by submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which can be used at four-year universities, two-year community colleges, and technical training programs. The FAFSA is used to determine the amount of money a family is expected to contribute to the price of attending a postsecondary institution, and the results of the FAFSA are used in determining student grants, work study, and educational loan amounts.”
If you are a senior and interested in finding out if you are eligible for financial aid, be sure to take a look at all you need to know about applying right here.
Nola.com has recently released this article which discusses the $13 million grant that has been awarded to two New Orleans universities and four nonprofits in an effort to recruit and train 900 diverse teachers for Louisiana by 2020. As stated in the article, “The U.S. Education Department’s Supporting Effective Educator Development Program grant will fund the task set forth by Xavier University and Loyola University, according to school officials Monday morning (Nov. 13) at Xavier’s campus. The schools will be collaborating with Teach For America Greater New Orleans, teach NOLA, Relay Graduate School of Education, and New Schools for New Orleans to address teacher pipeline challenges in the city.”
For more information on why this grant was given and where the money will be spent, click here.
In this recent article, which was published on the Louisiana Department of Education website, eight Louisiana schools are nationally recognized for student achievement. The article states that these students are “nationally recognized for exceptional student performance or for closing the achievement gap among historically disadvantaged students. Two schools have been named National Title I Distinguished Schools by the National Title I Association, and six schools have been nominated by the state to receive 2018 National Blue Ribbon Schools awards from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE).”
To learn more about National Title I Distinguished School Program, click here.
To learn more about the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, click here.
Benny Cenac, Houma Philanthropist and CEO of Cenac Marine Services, has always been dedicated in his endeavor to providing the absolute best for children and young adults when it comes to education. It has become a natural part of his practice to donate time and funds to several different schools, charities and programs. When he came across the opportunity to assist the Stella Learning Centerin Houma, Louisiana, this was no different.
Stella Learning Center (SLC) is made up of highly skilled teachers in a positive teaching environment prepared with scientifically tested tactics that are used for instructional decision-making. SLC’s highly qualified staff works with individuals with Autism and related disorders. This school provides a program that Benny Cenac, Houma Philanthropist, feels is important to the Houma area.
When describing the growth and changes of Stella Learning Center over the years, Lead Teacher, Daisy Alviar says, “When we originally opened the center, it was the first Autism and Related Disorders Learning Center in the tri-parish area. We started out by accepting children ages 10 years and older. Our goal was to reach a population that so easily got lost in the public school system once they entered their Junior High School years. As time went on, we expanded by adding two daycare classrooms that we could use as a way of mainstreaming children and doing our best to get them ready for their elementary school years. All the while, we continued to work with young teenagers. Since, our young teenagers are now young men and women. They have begun transitioning into group homes, high school, and adult programs. We continue to offer services for families of children with Autism and Related Disorders as a public service. However, the demographics have changed from older children to a younger population. Yet, the mission remains the same: To improve the lives of individuals with autism and related disabilities through the provision of high quality, accessible educational programs designed to enhance the individuals’ opportunities to achieve their full potential.”
Some of the many donations Mr. Cenac made to Stella Learning center included two scholarships for older students, the purchase of a curriculum for Stella Learning Center’s Pre-School classroom, much needed mulch in their playground, 2 computers that will be used both for book keeping and classroom lessons as well as assistance with operational costs that help SLC continue to stay open.
Schools like SLC are few and far between although the need is great. The current protocol in most school districts is to integrate children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms. Separating kids based on ability—the old model of the special-ed classroom—is now seen as discriminatory and stigmatizing. Advocates for integration say it helps children with special needs build social skills and it develops compassion among non-disabled ones. But like so many ideas that are terrific in theory, integration is often disastrous in practice. Because of this, many children with special needs fall between the cracks once they hit junior high.
Here’s the problem: Teachers in mainstream classrooms rarely have the education or expertise to work with complex disabilities that include difficulties with behaviour. Rates of diagnoses of autism, for instance, are growing exponentially, and kids with conditions like this require very particular accommodation, including high teacher-to-student ratios, educators with extensive and specialized training, additional therapists and mental health workers, and environments designed to reduce stress.
Typically, though, integration involves simply sticking children with special needs in a regular classroom and providing them with limited and inconsistent support. Managing a busy classroom with ever-dwindling resources is demanding, and teachers are already overextended. Now imagine adding a child (or several children) who are hyper-sensitive to sound and touch, or who require one-on-one attention to decode a paragraph of text, or who are prone to explosive fits.
What’s more, research indicates that a teacher’s attitude toward integration is a huge factor in whether it will succeed or fail. Not surprisingly, a lot of teachers begrudge being assigned children with special needs—especially when they know they won’t get the resources to support those kids properly. All of this results in the exact opposite of what integration is supposed to achieve. Instead of making children with special needs feel included, they wind up feeling unwelcome and resented by both their teachers and their classmates. And instead of non-disabled children learning compassion, they end up afraid or disdainful of disabled kids.
The overuse of suspensions, expulsions and exclusions suggests that schools don’t have the funding or proficiency to meet their obligations to children with special needs. Integration—however noble the original intent—is failing both children with disabilities and their non-disabled classmates.
SLC is highly trained and knowledgeable and they know exactly what accommodations students need to succeed so that they don’t fall through the cracks. Daisy Alviar replied to the donation with gratitude by stating, “Mr. Cenac has provided us with the funds needed to continue working toward our mission.” Mr. Benny Cenac and the Cenac Team are so happy and proud to assist this amazing educational organization that has the best vision in mind for our local youth. We look forward to seeing the growth of Stella Learning Center over the years to come.
To learn more about Benny Cenac, Houma Philanthropist, and his community efforts please visit us here.
