Louisiana’s approach to evaluating schools recently earned national attention after being highlighted as a leading example of education and school accountability in the United States. In the 2026 Education Policy Playbook, released by ExcelinEd, the state’s revised school grading system was praised for its transparency and focus on measurable student outcomes, as per this news release from LDOE. That recognition, also highlighted by the Louisiana Department of Education, positioned Louisiana as a model for other states seeking clearer and more effective ways to evaluate school performance.
Education leaders in Louisiana have spent years refining how school performance is measured. According to State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley, the state’s reforms reflect a broader effort to strengthen academic achievement while ensuring families have clear information about school quality. The revised system aligns with the state’s larger education priorities and presents accountability in a way that is easier for the public to understand while still maintaining rigorous expectations.
The recognition came from ExcelinEd, a national education nonprofit known for advising state policymakers on reforms designed to improve student achievement. Its annual Education Policy Playbook outlines accountability ideas and policy strategies that state leaders can use when developing school systems. In that report, Louisiana was identified as the national exemplar for how states can measure and communicate school performance effectively.
The playbook specifically pointed to Louisiana’s accountability framework, Grow. Achieve. Thrive. The system was praised for using a formula that is both rigorous and understandable. Rather than leaning on overly technical measures that can be hard for parents and communities to interpret, the framework centers on three core goals that track student success across multiple stages of schooling.
Louisiana’s revised accountability model focuses on helping students progress academically, reach proficiency in core subjects, and graduate ready for the future. The Louisiana Department of Education describes the framework through three clear priorities that give schools and families a shared understanding of success.
- Grow focuses on yearly academic progress. Schools are evaluated on whether students demonstrate meaningful improvement in their learning from one year to the next. This part of the framework recognizes that growth matters greatly, especially for students who may begin below grade level.
- Achieve measures whether students meet grade-level proficiency standards in key academic subjects. By emphasizing proficiency, the system keeps schools focused on helping students master foundational skills in areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics.
- Thrive looks at long-term outcomes, especially whether students graduate prepared for what comes next. In Louisiana’s model, readiness includes preparation for college, career pathways, or military service. This final category connects school performance to the practical question of whether students are leaving high school with real options and real preparation.
Together, those three priorities create a balanced scorecard designed to measure both immediate academic progress and long-term readiness. That balance is one reason the ExcelinEd playbook held up Louisiana as an example other states may study.
The revised framework will begin generating official school performance scores in late 2026, reflecting data from the 2025–2026 school year. When those scores are released, families, educators, and policymakers will gain a clearer picture of how schools are performing across the state through the lens of Grow. Achieve. Thrive.
Supporters of the system believe the framework will provide a stronger and more useful picture of school quality than older accountability models. By emphasizing growth, proficiency, and readiness after graduation, Louisiana is aiming to show not only how students perform on paper, but also how well schools prepare them for life after high school.
As Louisiana moves toward releasing its first official results under the Grow. Achieve. Thrive. framework, the state’s national recognition suggests these accountability reforms may shape broader conversations about how school quality should be measured in the years ahead.
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