Louisiana Educator: Charter Schools Can Vary Greatly

Louisiana Educator: Charter Schools Can Vary Greatly:

Charter Schools Can Vary Greatly

The readers of this blog know that I am very skeptical of many of the charter schools that have proliferated in this state in recent years. I want to make it clear however that I am not opposed to all charter schools, and I do not believe that all charter schools are bad. So let's look at some of the differences among charter schools.

Recently I visited a charter school in Avoyelles Parish calledLaSAS. This is the Louisiana School for the Agricultural Sciences. It just so happens that this school is dedicated to certain goals that I believe are highly commendable. Many of the students that attend LaSAS are students that have struggled with the typical college prep courses that have been pushed incessantly by our LDOE for the last 10 or more years. The fact is that approximately 60 percent of our Louisiana students either are not college material or have interests in career fields that do not require college degrees. Even so our top education officials have attempted to prepare all students for college, just in case they should decide to try college after all.

It is clear now that the "college prep for all" program has not worked. Louisiana actually has a slightly smaller percentage of our students completing 4 year degrees than we had 10 years ago. At the same time, Louisiana industries are complaining that our educational system is no longer preparing a sufficient number of students for construction trades, welding, health care