Corrected: In the 2006 print edition of Education Week’s annual Quality Counts report, published Jan 5, Louisiana did not receive credit in the School Climate section for including information about parent involvement or school safety on its school report cards. Because Louisiana’s 2003-04 school report cards do report such information, the state should receive credit for both indicators. This change raises the state’s grade from a C-minus to a C in this section. It has been corrected in the online edition.
| Vital Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Public schools | 1,519 |
| Public school teachers | 50,495 |
| Pre-K-12 students | 727,709 |
| Annual pre-K-12 expenditures | $5.1 billion |
| Minority students | 51.5% |
| Children in poverty | 30% |
| Students with disabilities | 13.9% |
| English-language learners | 1.7% |
Summary of Grades
Louisiana’s overall performance across the four graded categories of Quality Counts is well above average, and the state scores at the top of the nation in two of the four policy areas.
Louisiana is the highest-scoring state in standards and accountability. The state receives full credit for the assessment and school accountability indicators. Louisiana falls short of a perfect score in this section only because the American Federation of Teachers has not rated its social studies standards at the elementary school level as clear and specific.
Louisiana is also the top-ranked state for teacher quality, receiving full credit for three of the four subcategories in this section. The state links initial and second-stage teacher licensure to an extensive assessment system for aspiring and veteran educators. Louisiana also has strong policies in place for professional support and training for teachers, as well as a number of measures for holding teacher education institutions accountable for teacher quality.
School climate is the only category in which the state receives a lower-than-average grade. In particular, the state has room for improvement on measures of school safety and parent involvement.
Louisiana receives another above-average grade in resource equity. Its score on the coefficient-of-variation measure, for example, indicates a relatively low level of disparity in per-pupil funding across districts in the state.
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| Quality Counts Grading Breakdown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.
