/ Local News

05/16/2008

Associated Press

A state education board has approved a new way for eighth-graders to earn promotion after taking the Louisiana Education Assessment Program test.

The LEAP exam is designed to make sure students master basic skills in math and English before they are promoted to the ninth grade.

The results are broken into five categories: advanced, mastery, basic, approaching basic and unsatisfactory.

Students are supposed to achieve at least "basic" in math or English, and "approaching basic" in the other, to be promoted to ninth grade.

But the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 6-5 Thursday to widen Louisiana's waiver policy for students who fall short.

Under the plan, students who score "basic" in either math or English and "unsatisfactory" in the other could still be promoted if they score at least "approaching basic" in the other subjects tested: science and social studies.

Students would also have to have grade-point averages of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and attendance of at least 92 percent, to qualify.

The issue initially sparked a 5-5 tie, the same lockup that shelved the measure earlier this week.

But this time Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, president of the board, broke the tie when she voted to back the change.

Johnson insisted that her vote did not represent any backing away from Louisiana's accountability standards.

State officials said that about 150 eighth-graders could benefit from the new rule, which is effective with the class of 2007-08.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com