One Acadiana outlines 4-point plan to improve La. education

By: CHRIS ROSA
LSN Writer

LAFAYETTE - Louisiana still ranks low in education, and One Acadiana leaders have four ideas to possibly improve education in the state.
• Maintain standards and accountability.
• Early child care and pre kindergarten.
• Develop school options for families.
•Empower local school leadership.
One Acadiana held a press conference Wednesday in Lafayette at the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning to explain its four  reform ideas.
“The gains Louisiana has made in terms of student achievement  are supported by  reforms that are raising standards, improving Pre-K options, providing  parental choice and empowering  school  and district leaders,” said One Acadiana President and CEO Jason El Koubi.
One Acadiana is a regional economic development agency based in Lafayette.
El Koubi pointed out the gains Louisiana has made in education since 2000. Around 73 percent of students graduated in Louisiana in the 2012-2013, which still ranks 45th nationally, but it is an improvement.
“Despite these gains, thousands of Louisiana students are still behind,” El Koubi said. “Many are leaving high school without a degree, unprepared for college and unprepared for a career.”

High standards in place
Having high standards in  place does not mean success, explained Jay Jackson, who is the chairman of the Lafayette Parish Public School Education Stakeholders Council.
“Standards only establish the expectations. It requires curricular to guide instruction to meet those standards,” he explained.
Having a plan in place is a way to measure how schools are doing. Louisiana must maintain academic standards have a way to assess and measure how wells schools are achieving those standards and have accountability system for both teachers and learning standards, Jackson said.   

Early Childcare top priority
Margaret Trahan, president and CEO of the United Way of Acadiana, urged state officials to increase the state funding for early childhood education programs. Many  times, children from poor families enter kindergarten not prepared.
“Currently, not all children in Louisiana enter kindergarten ready to succeed,” she said. “Studies demonstrate that students who participate in high quality early childhood development programs are better prepared for kindergarten, and they achieve greater success in later grades.”
What worries Trahan is Louisiana does not appropriate money for programs for at-risk children under the age 4.

Keeping school options open
El Koubi explained that many schools in Acadiana are not all C schools. There are a handful of D and F schools.  Parents should be able to remove their children from failing schools and place them in other schools like specialized schools such a magnet or charter schools.
“The success of a number of high quality charter schools should not be an indictment of traditional public schools, but rather, a testament to power of parental choice,” El Koubi explained.
“The sad fact is that we have far too many families that are faced with no choice but to send their child, every day, to an under performing school,” Jackson said.
School leaders have the power
Jim Henderson, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, likes Louisiana’s Act One law. The legislation limits school board’s power when it comes to hiring and firing employees.
“A school board should set policy,” Henderson said. “It should not micro manage a district.”

Other meetings set
On Thursday, Aug. 20 at South Louisiana Community College’s New Iberia campus, One Acadiana will highlight development on the region’s workforce.
On Aug. 27, at the Billeaud Companies office in Broussard,  the focus will be on completing Interstate 49 South.