Getting higher: The number of Louisiana students scoring an 18 or higher on the ACT reached new heights in 2016, according to the state Department of Education. Education officials say 25,144 students who graduated in May scored at least an 18, making them eligible for college. That tally is up by 462 from the previous year and 6,837 since 2012. Across the state, the average score inched up from 19.4 in 2015 to 19.5 in 2016. The statewide average has increased 0.4 points since 2013. “The results demonstrate once again that our state’s plan to raise expectations is working,” state Superintendent of Education John White says in a statement. “The results also shows, however, that we cannot stop here.”
Expansion plan: Louisiana Economic Development is spreading its CEO Roundtable program to two more cities—Lafayette and Ruston—to further expand the peer-to-peer entrepreneur support network. LED launched the program in New Orleans in 2014 and later added discussions in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. The groups, which consist of roughly 15-18 executives from second-stage businesses looking to grow jobs and revenue, meet about 10 times a year. “There are many challenges in operating and growing a small business, and the CEO Roundtables provide the necessary platform to identify and implement solutions to shared challenges,” LED Secretary Don Pierson Jr. says in a statement. The 2017 programs begin this week in all but Lafayette, where it will begin next week.
Rethinking the adage: Years ago, it wasn’t too hard to predict how many new barrels of crude the energy industry could harvest over a stretch of time. A big part of it was just counting the number of drilling rigs in the oil patch. But, as the Houston Chronicle reports, times change. During the U.S. energy boom, shale drillers pumped oil hand over fist using faster, souped-up rigs that could move between drilling sites without being disassembled. Baker Hughes has kept track of the nation’s active rig fleet for decades, but suddenly the industry’s go-to weekly drilling report became something of a relic, as far as oil production math goes. The Houston Chronicle has the full story.
