LEAP Scores Released As PARCC Remains In Limbo

Louisiana’s LEAP and iLEAP scores are out, and the results show slight improvements for third-through-eighth-grade students statewide.

Sixty-nine percent of students scored at the passing level of “basic” or higher — the same number as last year. But the number of students earning a “mastery” level or higher in English went up a point to 27 percent, and math scores gained two points with 25 percent of students earning the higher-than-average marks.

This could be the last time students take the LEAP, as the Common Core-aligned PARCC tests are set to be administered next year. That change is in limbo, however, as Gov. Bobby Jindal has supported nixing the state-approved test and is backed by at least 33 state representatives.

Those representatives, led by Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, and Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, wrote a letter to Jindal May 20 urging him to pull out of the PARCC tests — whether by veto or by executive order, as was done in Florida. (Read the letter here.)

The governor has until May 30 to take action, as the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the test May 1. According to the letter, Louisiana's Administrative Procedures Act allows for a 30-day window for changes to the decision to be considered.

Another 33-member coalition comprising business, school and civic groups — and headed by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, of which Geymann is a member — wrote to the House of Representatives April 23 in support of Common Core. (Read that letter here.)