Understanding My Child’s Testing and the School’s Grade

Standardized testing drives a lot of decisions in Louisiana schools — your child’s promotion, the school’s public grade, even funding. Here’s what’s actually behind the numbers.

What LEAP actually measures

The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) tests students annually in English language arts and math (grades 3–8 and high school), plus science and social studies in select grades. High school students take subject-specific assessments — English I and II, Algebra I, Geometry, Biology, and U.S. History — that double as graduation requirements.

Results are reported in five achievement levels: Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic, and Unsatisfactory. Basic and above meet graduation requirements for the relevant high school assessment.

How your child’s results connect to promotion

For students in grades 4 and 8 specifically, LEAP results can factor into promotion decisions to grades 5 and 9. If your child transfers into a Louisiana public school around this point, there are specific rules about which test (the spring LEAP, a summer retest, or a separate state placement test) applies, depending on timing. If your child is a 4th or 8th grader transferring schools, ask directly which testing path applies to their specific enrollment date — the rules differ depending on whether they arrive before or after the spring testing window closes.

How schools are graded

Louisiana assigns every school a School Performance Score (SPS), which converts into the letter grades (A–F) most parents are used to seeing. The SPS formula weighs LEAP results, K-2 literacy and numeracy measures, English learner progress, and — at the high school level — graduation-related measures including a ninth grade success indicator. This score is public and is meant to give you a comparative sense of how a school is performing, not just a pass/fail label.

Testing accommodations

If your child has an IEP or a 504 Plan, they’re entitled to testing accommodations — but there’s an important rule most parents don’t know: test accommodations cannot be different from, or in addition to, the accommodations already documented in your child’s IEP and used during regular classroom instruction. In other words, the testing accommodation isn’t a separate request you make at test time — it has to already be written into the IEP itself, including which specific assessment format (standard LEAP, LEAP Alternate Assessment, or LEAP Connect) your child will use.

If your child’s IEP doesn’t yet reflect the testing accommodations they need, that’s something to raise at an IEP meeting well before testing season — not after. See Special Education & IEPs and use the IEP Meeting Request template if needed.

English learners

Students learning English are expected to test alongside other students. For school accountability purposes specifically, a comprehensive exam score can sometimes be excluded from school-level calculations for newly-arrived English learners — but this exclusion is about how the school’s accountability score is calculated, not about whether your child takes the test.

Opting out — and the real consequences

Parents can choose to opt their child out of LEAP testing. But here’s the important caveat: a parent opt-out is not coded as an excused absence. That means opting out doesn’t shield your child from attendance consequences the way a documented illness or other excused absence would. If you’re considering an opt-out, weigh this attendance consequence directly against your reasons for wanting to opt out, and consider discussing it with the school in advance rather than simply having your child not show up to testing.

Reading your child’s results

LEAP score reports show your child’s achievement level for each subject tested, along with how that compares to grade-level expectations. If a report seems unclear or you want to understand what a specific score means for your child’s placement, course access, or promotion, you have the right to ask the school directly for an explanation — this is information that should be explained to you, not just handed over as a printout.

If something seems off

1. If you believe a testing accommodation wasn’t properly provided despite being in the IEP, document exactly what happened and when
2. If a promotion decision seems based on an incorrect test administration or score, request the specific basis for the decision in writing
3. Use the Procedural Violation Documentation Letter if the school isn’t following its own documented testing or promotion policy

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change — always verify with a licensed attorney for your specific situation.