La. educators turn to trades to cut dropout rate

Beginning next year, many Louisiana high school classrooms could look like Wes Sebren’s: equipped with welding gear, safety goggles and circular saws. Sebren, a teacher at West Ouachita High School near West Monroe, is at the forefront of public schools’ response to a 2009 law passed by the Legislature that encourages teaching skills that students will need in the work force. The law created a “career diploma” that—in an effort to reduce the dropout rate—will go to students who opt for lower academic standards in math and English, while taking classes such as welding, woodworking and small engine repair. Statewide, the new curriculum hasn’t been fully formed, and only 12 of the state’s 68 public school districts have offered freshmen the option of taking the career track. Most high school administrators said they would begin offering the track next school year. Educators said they expect skills classes will be popular with parents and students who aren’t academically inclined and expect to attend community or technical college after high school, rather than four-year colleges. One group of students will be most affected: those who, under the old rules, couldn’t pass standardized tests to advance from the eighth to ninth grades. Critics warn the new system will encourage those students to avoid improving their English and math skills. Instead, the critics argue, they’ll simply choose the career diploma path—a move that makes it far easier to pass the mandatory standardized tests.