Proposed education policies aim reduce mandated training, tighten student discipline, enhance teaching | News

BATON ROUGE, La. – State education Superintendent Cade Brumley is proposing a set of policy recommendations inspired from his Let Teachers Teach workgroup.

The policies are geared toward reducing the number of trainings teachers are required to repeat every year, tighten student discipline, and give effective educators more freedom over lesson planning.

The Let Teachers Teach policy package will be considered by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education during its meetings Aug. 20-21. If approved, they would impact every public school in the state.

“Being an effective teacher is hard work and we seek to make the job more manageable and fulfilling,” said Brumley. “These policies will show support for hard-working teachers across Louisiana as they return to the classroom this year.”

The main areas of this Let Teachers Teach policy package are reducing state-mandated teacher trainings, creating expectations for student discipline, and providing teachers more autonomy over teaching practices and lesson planning when they consistently demonstrate success.

The teacher training policies would streamline dozens of non-academic trainings and lessons teachers must repeat each year.

“We’re moving to a ‘one-and-done’ model for many of the previously-required annual teacher trainings,” said Brumley. “Both policy-leaders and practitioners agree that required teacher trainings have become excessive.”

A new discipline policy would impact the Teacher Bill of Rights and change how school leaders must respond to persistent disruptions during class. Teachers would have the right to have a student removed from the classroom immediately when their behavior prevents the orderly instruction of other students or poses a threat.

“No student has the right to habitually disrupt the learning environment for their classmates or their teacher,” said Brumley, who just last week urged system leaders to recommit to assertive discipline action. “Students and teachers deserve peaceful schools.”

The Louisiana Department of Education collaborated with multiple stakeholders in the development of the policies.

“I’m thankful to work alongside Gov. Landry, champions in the legislature, and a committed state board of education to solve complex challenges in the educational space while keeping student outcomes at the forefront of every decision,” said Brumley.

About the Let Teachers Teach workgroup

Brumley launched the workgroup in February to develop common sense solutions to unnecessary bureaucracies and classroom disruptions that keep teachers from doing what they do best — teaching students. The workgroup is composed of over two dozen teachers from across Louisiana.

The workgroup helped develop a set of recommendations that can be addressed at the state, system, and school levels. Landry joined Brumley and teachers from across the state to unveil the recommendations in May. The LDOE and BESE are outlining actions around all 18 recommendations. These range from new state laws, policy changes, and guidance for local school systems.

The workgroup is the product of feedback the LDOE has received through formal channels such as the Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council as well as informal channels such as classroom visits and faculty meetings hosted by Brumley.