Policy language proposed by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) would make the eligibility criteria more restrictive and different than what is in Act 833.

Students on LAA-1 would not have access to an alternative pathway to be promoted or graduate if BESE adopts policy revisions recommended by the LDE.

Act 833 clearly indicates student eligibility is based on how a student has performed relative to state-established benchmarks on state assessments or promotion criteria established at the local or state level.

LDE's recommendations for revising policy indicate student eligibility is based on whether the student is pursuing regular state academic standards.  The LDE's language to describe eligible students is both undefined because there are no 'regular' state academic standards, and is inconsistent with federal and state law.  There is only one set of state academic standards and every student is required to have access to and make progress toward those standards.  Federal law (IDEA) indicates that the IEP for each child with a disability must include a statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals designed to meet the child's needs that result from the child's disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum.

Therefore this language recommendation by LDE for Bulletin 1530 revisions provides no clarity as to which students would be eligible and may create confusion as to whether all students should be pursuing the state academic standards.

However, discussions with LDE staff indicate the intent is to not allow students on the alternate assessment level one (LAA-1) access to the alternative pathway for promotion and graduation. Even though LAA-1 evaluates the progress of students toward the general education standards, it appears that LDE intends to enforce the eligibility requirement that students on LAA-1 are not eligible for consideration of an alternative pathway to promotion and graduation.  This restriction in eligibility criteria is clearly beyond the language and the intent of Act 833.

Clearly, students on LAA-1 are not meeting state-established academic benchmarks.  The LDE's proposed policy language recommendations would restrict access to an alternative pathway by disallowing consideration for students who have been arbitrarily determined to be on LAA1.

How does this compare with other states?

In almost half of the states (19) the only exit option for high school is a diploma, not a special education diploma, but a regular, occupational or honors diploma.  Certificates of Achievement or Attendance fail to recognize whether a student has fulfilled any requirements and fail to inform employers of any abilities of students.  Graduation rates posted by the U.S. Department of Education  reveal extremely high graduation rates in states where all students have true access to a meaningful exit outcome from school.  Graduation rates reveal whether a state values all students.  In the states below all students have access to graduating with a diploma - a regular high school diploma.

Will allowing all students true access to an opportunity to earn a diploma cause Louisiana diplomas to be devalued?

Students from the above states tend to outperform students in Louisiana by most measures and these states rank higher than Louisiana on educational performance and outcome measures - including a recent report of the 2014 States with the Best and Worst School Systems.  It has never been mentioned when comparing or ranking school systems, or employers considering a new hire, that a graduate of New Jersey or Pennsylvania is lesser than a graduate from Louisiana.  However, students who exit a Louisiana school with a certificate or as a drop-out are viewed as lesser than a graduate from any state.