Dive Brief:

• Louisiana Education Department will publicly release test scores for grades 3-8 Tuesday, with some school leaders and politicians fearing that the scores will show massive losses now that schools have transitioned to the more challenging Common Core standards. 
• The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) and Integrated Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (ILEAP) exams typically affect a school's letter grade, teacher evaluations, and whether or not a student is promoted, but legislation has made it so the exam scores won't carry as much weight for the the first two years of the Common Core.  
• Under the legislation — which could be extended for a third year — schools will be ranked on a bell curve so that their ratings (measured from A to F) stay in line with past years. Additionally, students who make significant gains but don't pass the exam will still have the opportunity to be promoted.  

Dive Insight:

This is the last year Louisiana will use the LEAP and ILEAP exams, as it is set to transition to an exam developed by PARCC next year. That exam will more adequately measure the Common Core standards since it was created specifically for that purpose.  

The fear of declining scores is one felt nationally by states that have transitioned to the Common Core, and Louisiana is not alone in postponing the consequences of its test scores, either.  Massachusetts and Florida are among at least 10 other states that have also pushed back their official Common Core testing.  

While the fear of score declines is valid, it does make one question how adamant policymakers and schools are about turning around their institutions. If students are not hitting more rigorous targets, should we be OK with turning a blind eye just because the standards are more difficult than years pasts?