Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Assessment And School Choice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State touts NAEP gains in early grades as Gator school-choice rollout draws 22,000 applications
Summary
Department of Education officials told the Senate committee that Louisiana posted notable gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in elementary reading and math, and the Board of Regents and Department of Education officials updated lawmakers on the LA Gator scholarship rollout, saying more than 22,000 applications were received.
The Department of Education on March 18 presented the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results to the Senate Education Committee, highlighting sustained growth in fourth-grade reading and fourth-grade math and urging continued investment in early reading and tutoring.
Kate Brumley, Department of Education, told the committee that Louisiana's fourth graders ranked 16th on absolute performance in fourth-grade reading and that Louisiana led the country in fourth-grade reading growth for the second consecutive NAEP cycle (2022 and 2024). Brumley described the state's literacy strategy as 'based on the science of reading' and said that earlier reforms and targeted tutoring helped drive the gains. She added the state also posted a top-5 national growth showing in fourth-grade math.
Brumley and senators discussed the difference between fourth- and eighth-grade outcomes: officials said fourth graders had benefited earlier and more directly from literacy and numeracy interventions, while eighth-grade results reflect pandemic-era disruptions and a longer-term need to improve intermediate and adolescent-level instruction.
Committee members pressed the department on high-dosage tutoring and follow-up funding. Brumley said pandemic-era federal stimulus (ESSER) dollars supported extensive tutoring efforts and that the state developed an 'accelerate' (daytime) tutoring model and the Steve Carter after-school weekend voucher program. She said the state provided $30 million in a block grant to support tutoring and reported a wait list for the Steve Carter vouchers; the department said the voucher program had attracted strong interest and that Governor Landry's executive budget sought to retain that funding.
In a separate update the department and Board of Regents outlined the initial launch of the LA Gator scholarship (education savings/account-style) program. Kim Hunter Reid, Commissioner of Higher Education, and Caleb Moore of the Department of Education said the parent application opened March 1 and will close April 15; they said the state's vendor, Odyssey, reported roughly 22,658 parent applications as of the meeting and that roughly 20,000 of those were currently eligible under the program's priority categories. Officials said approximately 3,500 applications came from students already participating in the prior voucher program and about 1,500 applications were from students with disabilities.
Hunter Reid and committee members discussed accountability for the Gator program. The 2024 statute that created the program requires participating students to take nationally recognized reading and math assessments; department officials said BESE rules specify options for qualifying assessments vetted by the department. Some legislators pressed for identical, comparable testing so that outcomes for scholarship participants could be compared with public school students tested on LEAP; Commissioner Hunter Reid and department staff said they were following the statute and BESE rules but that the committee could expect a department roll-up report on reading and math following the program's first year of operation.
Ending: Lawmakers thanked the department and Board of Regents for the NAEP briefing and for the Gator implementation update; several senators said they will continue to press the department and BESE on assessment comparability and reporting after the program's first year.
