An Open Letter to Rep. Brett Geymann, Lake Charles and Rep. Cameron Henry, Metairie in Opposing Common Core

 

Since legislative mandate in 1986, Louisiana has patterned the education of its youth around state developed teaching standards and assessments. In case you have forgotten, this paradigm was known as the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP).  We held students back and denied graduation to seniors who did not meet these state standards.  The latest national assessment (NAEP) of Louisiana 4^th and 8^th graders in the areas of reading and math skills found them either tied for 48^th place or dead last out of the 50 states tested.  This, after almost 30 years and billions of tax payers dollars spent using, as you propose, Louisiana developed standards and assessments.

 

Why we anyone in their right mind trust the education of their child to the so called ‘educational experts’ in our state?  If I were designing educational standards, I wouldn’t even ask for Louisiana’s opinion as to their appropriateness. 

 

Your present legislation against the adoption of the Common Core Standards, developed by a consortium of educational experts throughout the country, is a total disservice to the youth of Louisiana.  As Mark Twain so aptly put it, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.”