Louisiana education department cuts social studies testing time
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) announced more changes to state testing for young students Monday morning.
Changes include cutting testing time in half for third to eighth-grade students. The initiative aims to align with the state's Freedom Framework standards. The change aims to cut testing time in half from 1,100 minutes to 550 minutes. Testing for social studies will reflect these new standards starting in the 2027-28 school year.
“Count me in the number that believe Louisiana students spend too much time testing,” Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley said. “Assessments are vital to measure academic progress and guide instruction and policy decisions. We will continue to take a strategic approach to reduce testing time while maintaining high-quality assessments.”
State education officials announced a change to reduce the amount of time students are taking state tests by 20% in October 2024.
According to LDOE, Louisiana is one of 13 states that require social studies assessments and the only one to mandate annual testing in the subject for grades 3-8.