Education Desk

Fewer standardized tests and more arts and foreign language. Those are just some of the changes in a draft education plan the state released this week.

Like many states, Louisiana is changing education priorities because now it can. Last year President Obama signed a new education bill into law, replacing No Child Left Behind with the Every Student Succeeds Act. The new law still requires schools to demonstrate how well - or poorly - they're doing. But now states decide how to evaluate and improve schools, rather than the federal government.

Thousands of Louisiana students are English Language Learners. Many recently came here from Central America, with or without their families. Schools don't always know what they need or are entitled to receive. Now the Southern Poverty Law Center and Louisiana Department of Education are trying to change that.

Morris Jeff Community School was the first New Orleans charter to form a union, in 2013. But its teachers operated without a contract. Until now.

When it comes to child well-being in the U.S., Louisiana ranks near the bottom: 48th. That's according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The results of the annual report are, sadly, not shocking. "We have historically always ranked at least in the bottom five states in overall child well-being, so unfortunately that wasn't a big surprise," says Teresa Falgoust. She's with Agenda for Children, which contributed local data to the national report. It looks at trends in data between 2008 and 2014.