Strong evaluation systems are foundational to improving teacher and principal quality; evaluations recognize excellence, support development, and address ineffectiveness. They must be meaningful, objective, and fair. Louisiana is exemplary in this area. Student growth comprises 50% of both teacher and principal evaluations. Furthermore, all evaluations are annual and tied to professional development and a four-tiered rating of effectiveness. In addition, principals are assessed on their effective management of teachers. Teachers are assessed on multiple measures, including classroom observations. Louisiana can continue its leadership in this area by incorporating student feedback within teacher evaluations and explicitly providing districts with the authority to develop evaluation criteria apart from collective bargaining.

Basing personnel decisions on performance is critical to building schools that retain effective teachers and make student achievement paramount. Louisiana is a national leader in this area; specifically, the state uses performance to drive decisions around teacher assignment, layoffs, and tenure. Schools have the authority to build and maintain an effective instructional team through hiring decisions and transitioning ineffective teachers out of the profession. When forced to let teachers go during a budget-related reduction in force, districts must use performance and demand to determine layoffs; considering seniority is expressly prohibited. Lastly, Louisiana dramatically reformed its tenure system for non-tenured teachers; tenure is awarded only to teachers who have received five highly effective ratings within a six-year period. Revocation of tenure can occur after one ineffective rating. Louisiana has created a system that prioritizes students and great teachers, using performance as the driving influence for all personnel decisions.

To encourage a high-quality, diverse workforce, professional pay should be based on performance rather than other non-classroom factors such as seniority or degrees held. In the 2012 legislative session, Louisiana passed one of most comprehensive performance-pay compensation policies in the country. H.B. 974 repealed the minimum salary schedule for all public elementary and high school teachers, administrators, and other personnel in the state and requires all employment decisions to be based on performance, effectiveness, and qualifications applicable to the position. Salary schedules must be based on the following criteria — effectiveness, as determined by a performance evaluation; demand, such as geography and subject area; and experience — no one category can count for more than 50% of the salary calculation. Teachers rated ineffective cannot receive a higher salary in the following year.

Louisiana allows provisional licenses for teachers from alternative programs and requires selective admission standards, including a minimum 2.5 GPA, and demonstration of subject-matter knowledge, which better measures candidate quality than an undergraduate major. Louisiana should raise standards for selective admission to teacher preparation programs, including requiring a 3.0 GPA for candidates without significant work experience or a graduate degree in the content area. The Louisiana State Board of Education has developed a very strong, detailed accountability framework for its teacher preparation programs that assigns a value-added score to each program. The score assesses the impact of new teachers on student achievement and rates programs according to one of five levels. Programs rated in the bottom two categories are designated for intervention and must improve according to a corrective action plan within a specified timeframe or be decommissioned by the state.

Louisiana is an exemplary state when it comes to empowering parents. There are a number of ways that the state provides parents with information and options, although there is still room for improvement. First, Louisiana empowers parents with information by requiring that all PK_12 schools receive an annual report card that includes an A_F letter grade based on student achievement. Louisiana should also give parents clear access to teacher effectiveness information. If a child is placed with an ineffective teacher, the parents should be notified and allowed access to alternative classrooms. Louisiana's parent trigger law is unique because the only turnaround option it provides parents is to petition to transfer a low-performing school to the Recovery School District (RSD). Louisiana could strengthen its parent trigger law by giving parents the option of implementing one the four Race to the Top intervention models rather than transferring the school to the RSD.

Louisiana is working to ensure students are not trapped in a failing public school by increasing high-quality school choice options for parents. All schools that take state dollars, including district, public charter, and private schools receiving publicly funded scholarships, should be held to the same high standards and accountability. Currently, the state has a publicly funded scholarship program for low-income students in chronically failing public schools. It allows them to attend a private school that meets certain accountability standards. The state must be vigilant about ensuring that these schools' academic standards are high and enable students to meet state learning objectives. Louisiana must also strengthen charter accountability, specifically regarding holding authorizers accountable for maintaining high-performing school portfolios.

Louisiana public charter schools receive per-pupil funding comparable to traditional public schools and also receive a share of local bond revenues for facilities costs. However, Louisiana should eliminate skimming provisions that allow up to 2% of a charter school's funding to be retained by authorizers. Louisiana should strengthen charter schools' access to unused facilities and should establish dedicated financing programs for facilities. Private schools enrolling scholarship students receive funds covering the full amount of a school's tuition, up to the maximum state allocation that a school district would have received for that student. This amount varies by district.

Louisiana allows for full state control of low-performing schools but not mayoral control. In Louisiana, any public school that is deemed academically unacceptable by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is designated a failed school. Under state law, such schools may be transferred to the jurisdiction of the state's Recovery School District, which has broad authority to reorganize and operate the school. To increase strong governance options in the state, Louisiana should also allow full mayoral control of low-performing school districts.

Given the limited resources available for education, states must ensure that the dollars invested drive the greatest change. Louisiana allows the statewide Recovery School District, local school districts, and public charter schools to realize cost efficiencies through contracting flexibility. However, Louisiana should provide greater staffing and spending flexibility to school districts by removing class-size limits past the third grade and other restrictions that limit districts' ability to reallocate resources to meet the greatest needs. Moreover, Louisiana should empower data-driven decisionmaking by improving the financial data it collects and linking spending to academic achievement. The law should enable the state to initiate governance changes at school districts when resources are mismanaged.

Attracting a high-quality workforce will require a competitive retirement plan. Portable retirement options, such as 401(k) plans, are an essential component of compensation packages and make the teaching profession more competitive. It is a classic win-win for teachers and districts. Under current policy, Louisiana requires existing employees of traditional schools to participate in its defined benefit plan. In October 2012, Louisiana took a significant step forward in ensuring that its new teachers will have access to a more portable and fair cash balance retirement plan. All public school employees hired on or after July 1, 2013, will have the option to enroll in a cash balance plan. To provide career flexibility and ensure sustainability of the existing system, Louisiana should allow all teachers to participate in its cash balance plan and continue to make this option available to public charter schools.