LEAP changes approved by BESE

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - 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 Louisianas 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. State officials say that about 150 eighth-graders could benefit from the new rule, which is effective with the class of 2007-08. (© The Associated Press, All rights reserved.)