Building a Better Louisiana

Education provides opportunity for the children of our state and it is our duty to the next generation to build a better K-12 education system. In doing this, we need to concentrate our school improvement efforts at the state and local level on the following common themes:

Early education is a priority. Having available, accessible, safe, nurturing, quality child care is vital to our community. Eighty percent of our children’s brain development occurs in the first four years of life. Anybody who has watched how fast children or grandchildren learn can attest to that fact.

Quality early learning environments play a vital role in later learning. Over the last three years, our legislature has responded to this need by adding millions of dollars in new state funding to increase access to quality child care and education statewide. If continued, the return on that investment will be seen in the next generation of Louisiana students.

Literacy is the key to success in school. We estimate the jail population in the future by measuring the rate of literacy in today’s third-graders. We should continue to embrace Louisiana’s focus on teaching children to read well. It is “all hands on deck” to advance reading and math skills with the return to “back to basics” phonics and memorization of math facts.

The empowerment of students to achieve their full potential has always been the foundation of school choice. School choice has been important in our community for decades with magnet and private schools. Charter schools are the newest addition to choice and have bipartisan support. A national poll showed 70% of parents support charter schools including 82% of Republicans, 68% of Democrats and 67% of Independents.

Schools need to be safe places.

Students need to feel connected, challenged and supported at school. The concentration on social and emotional safety has been accented even further after the pandemic as anxiety, depression and suicide rates have skyrocketed. This issue brings forward the need for common sense policies on the use of smart phones during school hours.

Some of parent’s priorities for schools are not measurable on tests. Parents want schools to concentrate on critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as ensuring students demonstrate the character traits of honesty, kindness, integrity, self discipline, resilience and accountability.

Our future depends on an understanding of our past. History and civics should teach our children to understand the obligation of citizens to safeguard America’s founding principles. Louisiana student scores on standardized tests in social studies are even lower than reading, math and science.

Because of this, the Louisiana Department of Education developed recent standards by which the story of America will be communicated to students based on the pursuit of freedom. Our children will learn about the last 250 years of building, maintaining and improving a free society.

In this freedom framework, they will learn about both our achievements and our country’s flaws. They will understand America’s role as an exceptional nation and as a country that seeks to learn from her mistakes. All of this takes on even greater importance during these difficult political times.

Last but not least, we need to develop life and work skills in middle and secondary schools. This has taken greater importance with states like Louisiana who have made this a main change priority in K-12 education. For Louisiana to thrive, we will need to prepare our students for college, career or military service. School districts will start by expanding AP tests, dual enrollment, apprenticeships, work experience and community college credentials.

The average age of post-secondary education is 27 in our state. It is taking young adults a long time to answer the question, “What am I going to do now?” We need to reduce this waste of a decade of searching.

In “The Wizard of Oz,” we learned we cannot look for someone behind the curtain to solve our concerns. A dedicated focus on investment in early childhood development literacy, school choice, greater focus on history, focus on the whole child, focus on physical and emotional safety and the development of practical life and work skills are a logical start. These are the education founding blocks for our future.

Dr. Phillip Rozeman is a local cardiologist. He has been honored for his service by CABL, United Way Louisiana and NW Louisiana Medical Society, and Greater Shreveport and Bossier Chamber of Commerce.