In the category of “most ill-conceived legislation passed this year,” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill earlier this month that creates a new track for high school students that allows them to opt out of the standard high school curriculum and, instead, pursue a “career diploma” with much lower required standards in math and reading, but with seven added vocational courses.  This option will be offered to students who can’t pass the 8^th grade level Louisiana Educational Assessment of Progress exam currently required to enroll in high school.  A “career diploma?”  Skills below the 8^th grade level?  As a New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist, Jarvis DeBerry notes, this bizarrely named “career diploma” is really “shorthand for ‘no career will be had with this pretend diploma’.”

Apparently, neither Jindal nor members of the Louisiana legislature have done their homework on what is really required to succeed in today’s global economy.  All the way back in 2006, ACT definitively showed (pdf) that the level of reading and math skills needed to be ready to enter today’s workforce training programs are no different than the skills needed to succeed in entry-level college courses.  What options are really open to Louisiana students who get this substandard credential for “seat-time” and a few vocational courses? Read the rest of this entry »