Louisiana Educator: Louisiana's K-12 curriculum is not preparing students for college or for life!

Louisiana Educator: Louisiana's K-12 curriculum is not preparing students for college or for life!

Louisiana's K-12 curriculum is not preparing students for college or for life!

Part I of a two part examination of our failing graduation standards

The Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education announced recently that only 18% of our students are succeeding in college.
At the joint meeting of BESE and the Board of Regents in December 2019, the Commissioner of Higher Education, Kim Hunter Reed, reported on studies that reveal that of 100 ninth-graders, only 45 enter college and 18 will earn a two- or four-year degree. This is a tacit admission that the big push for college prep by BESE and the Department of Education for the last 20 years has been a dismal failure. But the Advocate report of the joint meeting quotes the education leaders promising to double down on college prep for all by offering more dual enrollment courses. The only positive result of this version of college for all is that now, vo-tech courses will be added to the menu.

During the school years spanning from 2000 to 2015, our state education officials had abandoned almost all support for career and vocational education in our K-12 schools, and had shifted to pushing virtually all students to take a college prep curriculum without regard to student aptitude or preferences. At the urging of education reformers, BESE had adopted the Core 4 curriculum for high school graduation which was designed to prepare all students for college. The education reformers and business leaders breathed a sigh of relief that soon almost all students would be prepared for college. The assumption was that even students who chose to seek technical careers that did not require college would benefit from CONTINUE READING: Louisiana Educator: Louisiana's K-12 curriculum is not preparing students for college or for life!