“This is the result of over 10 years of work,” says Jamie Hebert, director of math for the Louisiana Department of Education, explaining how the state achieved the highest growth in the nation on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Louisiana was one of only two states where fourth-grade students outperformed their 2019 math scores—and its fourth graders ranked among the top five nationally for math growth.
These outcomes aren’t the result of one-off trainings or quick fixes. They’re the product of years of steady progress—stretching back as far as Hurricane Katrina in 2005—focused on strengthening instructional coherence, building robust teacher supports, and raising expectations for all students. At the core of Louisiana’s success is a straightforward belief: when teachers are equipped with high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and the training to use them effectively, student learning improves.
Louisiana’s education leaders have long recognized that students need a strong, durable system to thrive. “We learned a lot from Katrina about what happens when there’s a major interruption—and how it impacts what kids need,” says Ms. Hebert. In the last five years, the state has worked to strengthen the foundation of its instructional infrastructure through a focus on grade-level instruction, which Ms. Hebert credits for how the state has been able to effectively navigate major crises like COVID and subsequent hurricanes. When materials were not available in 2020 to bridge learning gaps, the state provided the concrete materials to teachers through Accelerate Math. These model materials pushed publishers to attend to the need for students to learn grade-level work while bridging the missed learning.
As early as 2012, Louisiana began vetting and promoting HQIM, launching its own teacher-led review process well before nationally recognized platforms like EdReports came on the scene. In these early efforts, the state published reviews of widely used K–12 math and English textbooks, clearly indicating whether each was aligned to academic standards.
To lead this work, the state contracted with practicing educators to become teacher leaders, training them to rigorously evaluate materials. The state also made it easier for districts to adopt curriculum materials identified as high quality by exempting them from bidding requirements.1
But Louisiana’s approach has never been just about making strong materials available. “We expect every teacher to be trained on those materials, to have dedicated time to study them, and to receive ongoing professional learning tied to them,” explains Ms. Hebert. That level of support didn’t happen overnight—it emerged through years of trial and error and has been the expectation since 2022.
In the early stages of implementation, the state pushed strict “adherence to the script” when using HQIM. But leaders quickly learned that true effectiveness came not from rigid implementation but from building teacher knowledge and instructional skill. Put simply, teachers needed to understand why lessons were designed the way they were and what makes them effective.
The state’s approach to HQIM has paid off. While the state funded district adoption of HQIM years ago, they no longer have to. Ms. Hebert drives the point home: “We now have high-quality materials in over 95% of our schools in English language arts and math.”
The investment in materials was matched by a deliberate focus on professional learning—specifically, support for teachers grounded in the curriculum they were expected to use. Shortly after updating its math standards in 2016, the state introduced its Curriculum Implementation Observation Tools and Scale. These gave teachers and school leaders clear, shared expectations for what strong implementation looks like, including access to materials, how teachers use them, and how students engage with the content.
While the state no longer funds HQIM broadly, it continues to fund professional learning in low-performing schools, requiring those schools to implement a support package for teachers that addresses effective HQIM adoption coupled with professional learning opportunities like ongoing vendor-led coaching.
Looking ahead, the state continues to identify new ways of supporting its workforce. In 2023, the legislature passed Act 260, which requires all fourth through eighth grade mathematics teachers—including special education teachers—to complete an approved professional learning course focused on numeracy skills by summer 2025. The state partnered with the Dana Center at the University of Texas–Austin to develop the 50-hour, 25-module course, which was funded through federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) dollars and will remain available to Louisiana educators.
The emphasis on Grades 4–8 is intentional. State leaders recognized that as students move through the upper elementary and middle grades, fewer are performing at high levels—likely due to the increasing complexity of the content and the cumulative nature of math learning. They also identified a critical challenge in the transition from fifth to sixth grade: Not only were students struggling but teachers often lacked the deep content knowledge needed to support them. The new training aims to strengthen middle school teachers’ math expertise, equipping them to better guide students through this pivotal shift.
Since the launch of the course, nearly 8,000 teachers have begun engaging with the content. While Act 260 applies only to Grades 4–8, state leaders proactively developed additional modules and courses for K–3 and high school teachers as well, recognizing the need to strengthen math instruction across the entire continuum.
When asked what advice leaders would offer to states just beginning this work, Louisiana brings a deep well of experience. “Success is really about expectation and communication—from state leaders to district superintendents, from superintendents to principals, and from principals to teachers,” said Ms. Hebert.
In Louisiana, they understand that you can’t skip the roux. For over a decade, the state has been slowly building the base—materials, training, and expectations—to create something that sticks.
Endnotes
- NASBE. (n.d.). What role do states play in selecting K-12 textbooks? https://www.nasbe.org/what-role-do-states-play-in-selecting-k-12-textbooks/