Dear Colleagues:

Many of you have received test scores for your students. Please keep them embargoed until Wednesday of this week at noon, at which time the state will make all results public. Students are making progress, and important changes like early childhood and turning around struggling schools are working. The challenges ahead are also evident in the data, however, as students struggled with more rigorous questions. 

Our state has adopted new academic standards because of the skills gap that separates those who are successful in today's economy with those who struggle. Our students cannot be taught antiquated, limited skills and still be productive in the world of work. 

That skills gap also results of the opportunities we provide young men and women to be educated for the world they will inherit. Too often, our system has a four-year-college-or-bust mentality that has left too many young adults with nothing other than a mound of college debt and a lean resume. If we provide high quality, rigorous career preparation for middle and high school students, we can equip tens of thousands of young Louisianans with skills that ready them for a life in the American middle class.

This week, we will announce a set of conversations to take place this summer, that will focus on revitalizing our state's career diploma pathway. In these discussions, we will propose a common sense way of providing career preparation that will allow for students to take on rigorous learning in high-growth, high-wage employment areas in their junior and senior years. It will bring business, higher education, and school districts together, to end the duplicative workforce development system. And it will give schools credit for high levels of career attainment by their students, just as schools receive today for true four-year-college preparation. 

This is the start of a long process. Contingent on the outcome of discussions this summer, BESE would not consider regulatory changes until the fall. Even then, districts would not be required to change their AOC structures into something more relevant to the workforce until 2016. But for those districts who can capably work with higher education and industry to certify their high school students in high-growth, high-wage careers before this date, we plan for provide a Jump Start option, allowing them to show the way for the rest of the state. We will host a Jump Start webinar June 20.

The college vs. career dichotomy is false. In today's age, both require dynamic, disciplined adults. But the skills gap is real, and it requires us to offer students more opportunities than we are today. I hope you'll join us for the discussions this summer.

As always, thank you for all you do for our children,

John  

John White

Louisiana Department of Education

Twitter @LouisianaSupe

Registration for the 7th Annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Symposium, on Friday, July 12, 2013 is now open. 

Join us as we honor the 2014 Louisiana Teacher and Principal of the Year finalists. The event includes: 

• Luncheon hosted by Dream Teachers featuring Ron Clark, New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Ron Clark Academies.
• Common Core-centered professional development workshops led by Louisiana Teacher Leaders.  

• Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
• Building knowledge through content-rich non-fiction
• Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational 

Space is limited to the first 150 participants. Applications must be submitted to Jill Slack at jill.slack@la.gov by June 7th. Click here for the application. For information on participant expectations and training dates, click here.  

2013-14 PPP Template

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan Development

To better coordinate early childhood care and education in line with Act 3, the Department is working closely with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to prepare the state plan for the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). Every two years, the state submits a plan for key goals and activities for child care subsidies, licensing and quality improvement initiatives. Local education agencies are invited to review the draft, attend the public hearing and/or provide comments in writing. The public hearing will be Monday, June 10, 2013 - 9:00 a.m. at the DCFS Iberville Building 627 North 4th Street in Baton Rouge. 

Begun in 1962 through Senate Resolution, the USSYP is a unique partnership of the United States Senate, the state-level departments of education throughout the country and The Hearst Foundations. The program provides two outstanding students from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity with an unparalleled learning experience about the American government, our political processes and public service.

No government funds are utilized for this program; transportation, all additional expenses for the week in Washington and a $5,000 undergraduate college scholarship for each delegate is provided by The Hearst Foundations to encourage our brightest students' interest in political leadership. A copy of the 2014 Program Rules and Scholarship Regulation Brochure which gives a more detailed look at the program history, policies and requirements can be found here. Recognizing education budget constraints, the foundation then provides each participating state department of education $1,000.00 to assist with selection costs.