Louisiana voucher students score almost 30 points below average on LEAP tests
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| Voucher students at the Upperroom Bible Church Academy in November 2008. The school is prohibited from accepting new students in fall 2013 due to its current students' low performance on standardized tests. (Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) |
As Gov. Bobby Jindal tries again to fund his controversial school voucher program, new test scores indicate that many of the current students educated with public money in private schools are not thriving. Or at least they aren't yet.
Released Wednesday, LEAP scores for third- through eighth-graders show only 40 percent of voucher students scored at or above grade level this past spring. The state average for all students was 69 percent.
For accountability purposes, students attending private schools at taxpayer expense take the same standardized tests as their peers in public schools. In 2011, when the voucher program operated only in New Orleans, students averaged 33 percent proficiency.
Now seven schools in Jefferson and Orleans parishes have results so low -- less than 25