Louisiana’s Implementation Plan
For Common Core State Standards
Louisiana state education policy requires regular review of standards at least once every seven years. Louisiana’s current standards and benchmarks were developed in 1997-1998. These were amended by adding Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs) in 2004. In 2010, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approved the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) which will replace the current English and mathematics standards/GLEs. The new CCSS will be fully implemented in 2014-2015. Once the Next Generation Science standards are completed, BESE will decide whether to adopt them. During 2010-2011, the social studies standards and GLEs were revised and approved by BESE.
All public schools in Louisiana are required to use curricula aligned with state standards. Most public schools and districts use curricula developed by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE). The Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum (LCC) includes 75 courses in the core areas of English, math, science and social studies.
Louisiana administers state assessments in the four core content areas in grades 3-8 and End-of-Course tests in high school. Louisiana is a governing state in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). PARCC is a 24-state consortium working together to develop next-generation K-12 assessments in English and math.The state is committed to administering the PARCC assessments in 2014-2015.
The state has developed an implementation plan to prepare students and teachers and to ease the transition to the more rigorous new standards and assessments. The implementation plan outlined in the paragraphs below includes one year of preparation followed by two years of implementation of transitional curriculum and assessments before full implementation of the new standards and PARCC assessments in 2014-2015. The table below provides an overview of the curriculum and assessment Implementation Plan.
2011-2012 / 2012-2013 / 2013-2014 / 2014-2015PreK / Current / Current / New / New
K / Current / New / New / New
Grade 1 / Current / New / New / New
Grade 2 / Current / Transitional / New / New
Grades 3-8 / Current / Transitional / Transitional / New
High School / Current / Transitional / Transitional / New
Spring/Summer 2011 – The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has developed a crosswalk document to identify changes between current standards/GLEs and the CCSS. The crosswalks were used to identify what content stays the same, what is to be added and what is to be deleted at each grade level. This information helped to determine the best way to phase in the CCSS over a 2-year period and was used to create Grade-level Content Comparison documents to be shared with teachers in future training. A General Awareness Webinar on the CCSS and Louisiana’s Implementation Plan was developed and presented.
2011-2012: Development Year – The LDOE will develop new Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum (LCC) to align with the CCSS for grades K-1 and the new social studies standards in grades K-12. The Transitional LCC will be developed for grades 2 and higher in English and math. This will be accomplished by revising activities in the LCC or writing new activities to address new content to be added each of the next two years and removing activities aligned to GLEs that will no longer be taught. Additionally, the LDOE will create LCC Professional Development workshops for the new courses (K-1 and social studies) and plan with districts for the rollout of both the transitional and the new LCC. Professional development plans for each course in the LCC is to include 9 days which will be spread throughout the year. Assessment resources such as PASS and EAGLE will also be revised to align with the transitional and new curriculum and assessments. The transitional assessments will be prepared by removing test items on content that will no longer be taught in the transition. The transitional assessments will include items that measure content common to the current GLEs and the CCSS.
2012-2013: Transition Year #1 – The new LCC aligned to the CCSS will be implemented in grades K-1 and the transitional LCC in English and math will be implemented in grades 2 and higher. Professional development will begin on the new LCC. The transitional iLEAP, LEAP, and End-of-Course assessments will be administered. The transitional assessments will include existing items that match both a CCSS and a GLE in the given grade (i.e., content that remains the same). The “cut scores” and level of difficulty will remain the same as the current assessments. PARCC assessments will be field-tested. During this year, the LDOE will be developing the new LCC for grades 2-12 in English and math, and for all grades in science.
2013-2014: Transition Year #2–The new LCC aligned to English Language Arts (ELA) and math CCSS in grades PreK and 2 will be implemented. The Transitional LCC will continue in grades 3-12, with more new content being taught. LCC professional development will continue. The transitional assessments will continue. The PARCC assessments will be field-tested.
2014-2015: Full Implementation – New LCC for all grades and subjects will be implemented and the new PARCC assessments will be administered. The CCSS will replace the GLEs in ELA and math and new content standards for social studies and science will be in place for all grades.