Louisiana’s top school board Tuesday voted to remove public school letter grades this year but made it contingent on final approval from the federal government.
The action means that grades and school performance scores, which are usually released in November, will be set aside amid classroom upheaval and falling test scores blamed on the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials of the state Department of Education had expected to have the federal waiver for Tuesday’s meeting. But that did not happen even though state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said he remains confident the waiver request will win approval.
At least 45 other states have gotten federal clearance to cancel normal school rating procedures, and officials of the U.S. Department of Education even encouraged states to apply because of the pandemic.
The 2020-21 school year was marked by a combination of in-person and virtual classes, and followed a sudden halt to in-person classes at the end of the 2019-20 school year during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak. Key test scores from the spring fell statewide, which meant letter grades were expected to fall, too.
