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Louisiana Reduces LEAP Test Time by 20% to Ease Student Burden

Tiffany Bradford

Oct 10, 2024 — 1 min read

Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley discusses upcoming changes to the LEAP assessments, which will reduce testing time for students by 20%, starting in 2025.

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana students in grades 3 through 8 will face shorter LEAP exams starting in 2025, following new measures aimed at reducing testing time by 20%, the Louisiana Department of Education announced Wednesday.

State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley outlined the changes, highlighting efforts to streamline the English language arts (ELA) and math sections of the standardized tests. The modifications are part of a broader initiative to ease the testing burden on students while maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the assessments.

“We’ve worked diligently with testing experts to ensure that we preserve the quality of the LEAP assessments while reducing unnecessary components,” Brumley said. “This reduction in testing time will allow students to focus more on what truly measures their knowledge and skills.”

Under the new plan, ELA testing time will be reduced by 40 to 75 minutes depending on grade level, with the number of writing prompts cut from two to one. Math sections will see a decrease of 30 to 40 minutes by removing several machine-scored and constructed-response tasks.

The changes, set to take effect in April 2025, reflect the Department of Education's ongoing commitment to improving the testing experience for students while still gathering essential data to track academic progress.

Brumley added that the state remains focused on further reducing testing time in the future as part of continued efforts to improve student assessments.

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