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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Louisiana Educator: College Prep and Jail Prep

Louisiana Educator: College Prep and Jail Prep:

College Prep and Jail Prep



The amateurs who run our State Department of Education have succeeded in shortchanging both our students and our Louisiana employers. John White just added a requirement that all students take the ACT and that the average scores of the students at each school count for 25% of the school letter grade. For the last four years (yes this was started by Pastorek) our DOE has done everything possible to encourage all students to take a college prep curriculum at the expense of the career and technical programs. Those career and technical programs have been dying in our high schools because the schools are penalized by the school grading system for any students who are not in college prep. Now White has made things worse with the ACT requirement.

But White has been informed by the LA Workforce Commission and the business community that Louisiana is facing a serious shortage of skilled vocational and technical workers. Almost none of our high school graduates are trained in the construction trades at the same time that it is predicted that Louisiana may soon see one of the largest construction booms in our history. Construction firm