Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orleans, a French-language public school in Uptown New Orleans, has received approval from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to make changes in its admission criteria for students applying for enrollment during the 2019-2020 school year.
Lycée offers a French immersion curriculum that is accredited by the French Ministry of Education for French. The school serves pre-kindergarten through 8th grade students with plans to build to 12th grade. It currently does not require French proficiency for students entering pre-kindergarten or kindergarten, but entry into first grade and up requires applicants to pass a French language proficiency exam.
However, BESE on Tuesday (Jan. 22) approved the school’s request to issue a proficiency test waiver to students who come from French accredited schools. Students will also be waived from the test if they have passing scores on the Diplôme d'Etudes en Langue Française exam, which is a standardized test from the French Ministry of Education to certify the competency of non-native speakers from outside France in the French language. The latter exam is given to students at French immersion schools through the administration of the Louisiana Consortium of Immersion Schools.
Louisiana Department of Education Superintendent John White Tuesday told BESE the Lycée amendment would fix “a common sense issue” for students who have already taken the French curriculum and “are proficient to have them come in without the test.” White’s comments were echoed Tuesday afternoon by Lycée board chair David Amoss.
“The change is aimed to help our school to attract qualified French-speaking students from accredited schools and eliminate the hardship for parents of having to go through another rigorous process for entrance, especially at the higher grade levels as we open our high school,” Amoss said.
Morris Jeff School to offer International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
The admission criteria change will also streamline the testing process that is “currently burdensome for Lycée staff,” according to the BESE request application signed by Amoss. Lycée CEO Marina Schoen on Tuesday said this will put less of a burden on the administrative staff that provides the test.
The “B”-rated Lycée Français is one of the most in-demand schools in Orleans Parish. It is a Type 2 charter school authorized by BESE to serve students statewide. School placement data from the state shows Lycée filled all its kindergarten seats for the 2018-2019 school year.
Class sizes at Lycée vary per grade, but hold a maximum capacity of 25 students per class, according to the school’s website. Pre-K classes consist of 20 students per class. Meanwhile Lycée has noted year-over-year growth in enrollment: from roughly 466 students in the 2014-2015 academic year to nearly 939 students this school year.
The Uptown school teaches Pre-K through 2nd graders at the 5951 Patton Street campus, and the other grades learn at the 1800 Monroe Street campus.
See OneApp 2018 school placement results: searchable database
Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
