Lens education reporter Jessica Williams has spent a lot of time in the last several months figuring out how Louisiana polices standardized tests in public schools. Among other things, her reporting shows that 33 public schools in New Orleans have been flagged for testing problems over three years, ranging from violations of test proctoring rules to suspicious numbers of erased answers. Many of these incidents have not been reported before.

Thursday at 12:30 p.m. CDT, we invite readers to discuss her findings and what they mean for the school system in New Orleans. Exactly what we discuss is up to you, but here’s what we could cover:

  • What’s riding on standardized tests
  • How the state ferrets out cheating
  • How many New Orleans schools were flagged and for what
  • What we don’t know about these incidents
  • How this factors into New Orleans’ charter school system

This text-based chat is for parents, teachers, education policymakers and anyone with an interest in education in New Orleans.

To participate, come back here at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. You can sign up for an email reminder below.

In the meantime, you can read our description of how we reported this story and browse the documents yourself.

See you on Thursday!

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Steve Myers

Steve Myers was editor of The Lens. Before joining the staff in 2012, Myers was managing editor of Poynter Online, the preeminent source of news and training about the journalism industry. At Poynter,...