Louisiana Educational Assessment Program

Louisiana has something called a LEAP test for fourth and eighth graders. Students are required to pass it to graduate and attain the next grade. I am currently unclear if this is part of No Child Left Behind or if it was implemented separately. Louisiana Educational Assessment Program

On friday I went in to Roxanne's school Bauduit Elementary to deliver her backpack (supplied by the school) and pay $32 for field trips next week. Every day there is a field trip because the whole school will be given over to conducting tests for the LEAP. I have been paying attention to elementary school lately and the LEAP is what everyone at Bauduit has been talking about since we got there. All the schools are talking about it and articles in the newspaper abound.

As I left schoool there was a pep rally for the fourth graders in the hallway. The big gurls were dressed in cheerleader outfits (sixth grade cheerleaders?) and the classes had prepared chants to root on their LEAP testing teams. Interesting. It might have seemed bizarre, but producing a social imperative to do well on an academic test may be pedagogically sound. I like that, pedagogically sound.

Rather than social pressure to wear flashy clothes (they use uniforms at Bauduit) or acting tough they substitute an entire manufactured enthusiasm for passing a test.