We’ve received some questions from parents about one of the changes in the Lafayette Parish School System’s Pupil Progression Plan.
The change, which can be found on page 59 of the Pupil Progression Plan,says, in part: “All students who earn an F on an assessment must be afforded the opportunity by the teacher to re-engage and re-assess the assessment standards. The higher grade will replace the lower grade.”
Parents are telling us that some teachers are giving students a one-week deadline to re-take a test, and allowing only one re-take of the test.
We reached out to LPSS officials, and we’re told those practices aren’t correct under the new rule.
Kathy Aloisio, director of elementary schools for the district, worked on the plan. She tells us that the new rules give students five days to set up a plan with their teacher to re-take the test. That doesn’t mean they must take the test within five days; it means they have five days to talk to their teacher about re-taking the test.
Aloisio said allowing only one re-take of the test also would not be an accurate interpretation of the new rule.
She said that every school and every class is different, and teachers and principals must work with families to determine how many times the child should try to re-take a test.
However, the rule does not authorize a five-day deadline to re-take the test, and it doesn’t authorize a one-time limit on re-takes, she confirmed.
If parents have questions about a teacher’s implementation of the policy, they should start with the teacher and principal at their school, Aloisio said. The aim of the new policy is to make sure children master the concepts the teacher is teaching, she said. This new approach gives the teacher a chance to try to teach the concept to the student again, she said.
