Photograph; New Orleans Students. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)
Introductory Reflection by Raynard Sanders, Ed.D., Host of The New Orleans Imperative
The term “High Standards” is a part of the education reformer$ in Louisiana daily script. For the past nine years they have been quick to point out that the “High Standards” of the Louisiana Accountability Plan has made test scores soar. Recovery School District officials and proponents claim that their “High Standards” have their test scores achieving faster that any school district in the state and the country.
As usual when you peel back the onion on the education reformer$ rhetoric it more than often totally false or a smoke and mirrors game. Michael Deshotels peels back the onion on John White claims of Louisiana’s academic success. The finding from his investigation tells us the Louisiana standards are not so high. Please read…

Higher Student Expectations?

By Michael Deshotels | Originally Published at The Louisiana Educator September 11. 2014
What is an acceptable level of performance for an 8th grade math student? All public school teachers are required to set student learning targets (SLTs) each year for each classroom of students. Where should the passing scores be set and what is an acceptable level of student failure? One good point of reference should be the state administered 8th grade LEAP math test. Let’s examine what is expected by our Department of Education for 8th grade Math.
Superintendent John White has repeatedly suggested that the state should have high expectations of all students and that if have high expectations on state tests that students will achieve more. Is he really following his own advice in designing and grading state tests?
Do you think Superintendent White would accept a passing score of slightly over 40% on a teacher-made final test as acceptable? If the teacher set 40.1% for a minimum score for passing, would it be acceptable for 35% of a classroom of students to score below 40.1%? That’s a pretty low expectation isn’t it? Yet that’s the result of the state-wide performance of our students on the new Common Core aligned 2014 LEAP given this Spring. The official scale score for a level of Basic on the Math 8th grade LEAP remained at exactly the point total used in the past (321 out of a total of 500 points). But the actual percentage of correct answers needed for a score of Basic (the minimum percentage), has been lowered this Spring to only 40.1%. And even with empathyeducates – Higher Student Expectations?:

9-13-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD
THE BECOMING RADICALEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by High Noon: “Why Everyone (Almost) Is Wrong about Common Core”High Noon at the Upcountry History Museum 2014 Fall Schedule All lectures begin at noon on Wednesdays and last one hour. The Upcountry History Museum/Furman University is located at 540 Buncombe Street in downtown Greenville’s Heritage Green a
1 by mike simpson / 8h