Louisiana A+ Schools

10/15/2026

💜💛💜💛

Dr. Bethany A. Hager represented the LSU Office of Educational Research and Louisiana A+ Schools, both part of the College of Human Sciences & Education, at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education Annual Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee! 🎉

Dr. Hager presented “Reconstructing Financial Agency After Widowhood: A Critical Literacies Perspective on Adult Financial Learning,” co-authored with Dr. Petra A. Robinson, interim director of the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development. Their work looks beyond basic money skills to explore how widows rebuild confidence and agency in their financial lives, and how adult educators can support that learning during a major life transition.

Congratulations, Dr. Hager and Dr. Robinson, on sharing this meaningful work! 💜💛

Louisiana A+ Schools LSU School of Leadership and Human Resource Development

10/07/2026

💜💛

09/16/2026

Arts education thrives when the whole school and community are behind it.
For National Arts in Education Week, we’re celebrating the educators, school leaders, artists, families, and communities who make meaningful arts education possible. At Louisiana A+ Schools, that means partnering with entire school communities to build a lasting culture of creativity, collaboration, and learning through the arts.
And that work needs more than one week of celebration. It needs sustained support and investment all year long. 💜💛
Learn more about Louisiana A+ Schools:
lsu.edu/aplusla

Take action: Visit the Americans for the Arts Action Center to support federal arts education funding and protect access to the arts.



LSU Americans for the Arts LSU College of Human Sciences and Education

09/14/2026

At Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU , we believe the arts belong in every student’s education. Through arts integration and whole-school support, we help educators create more opportunities for students to explore, create, connect, problem solve, and show what they know.

But ensuring access to meaningful arts education takes continued investment and advocacy. This week, we’re joining Americans for the Arts in celebrating Every Student, Every Community and encouraging others to speak up for strong federal arts education programs and continued support for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Because every student deserves the opportunity to be a creator, thinker, problem solver, and artist. 💜💛

Ready to take action? Visit the Americans for the Arts Action Center to contact your legislators and advocate for arts and arts education.

Learn more about National Arts in Education Week:
https://bit.ly/4gxkj5h

Louisiana A+ Schools is a program of LSU College of Human Sciences and Education Learn more about Louisiana A+ Schools by visiting our website at lsu.edu/aplusla

09/11/2026

Let’s Talk Collaboration!

We all know collaboration is an ESSENTIAL component of A+ Schools, but we also know that finding time for it can be HARD, especially between arts specialists and academic teachers!

So, how is your school making collaboration happen?

One way we’re supporting it in Louisiana is by creating a school-specific A+ hub site for our schools. It becomes their one-stop shop for everything from LAA+ professional development and arts integration resources to planning tools, examples, and more.

But one of the best parts about this site, is the Lesson Plan Hub. Teachers can submit their own arts-integrated lessons and resources to a shared school library AND browse what their colleagues are doing. This gives teachers a peek into what’s happening across grade levels, content areas, and art forms and helps them find inspiration and make connections with one another, even when there isn’t time to physically meet and plan together. It also begins the process of building an in-house arts integrated lesson plan library, helping schools sustain these practices long term.

It doesn’t replace face-to-face collaboration, but it gives us another way to keep those connections going.

What does your school do to make collaboration easier and more sustainable? Share your ideas! We’d love to learn from each other.

LSU LSU College of Human Sciences and Education LSU School of Education

08/12/2026

How do you make learning visible?

One thing we really focus on during our Louisiana A+ Schools professional development is the art of documenting student learning.

Documentation can be student artwork on the wall, photos of students creating or performing, or videos that capture learning in action. The key is making sure it tells the story of the learning and clearly shows what students are doing to meet the objectives.

And, of course, it connects right back to our A+ Essentials! Documenting student work is a great example of Enriched Assessment because it provides evidence of how students are learning and demonstrating understanding. It also supports Climate by intentionally sharing and celebrating students and their learning.

Whether you’re displaying work, photos, or videos, don’t forget the academic AND arts objectives! Those objectives help everyone who sees the documentation understand the intentional connection between the arts and academic learning.

Here are a few ways we’ve modeled this with teachers in our professional development work as well as how teachers in our network have celebrated their students' work in the classroom.

How are your A+ schools making student learning visible? We encourage you to share your ideas and examples below!

08/10/2026

Wishing a great start to the school year to both our St. Martin Parish Schools! Saint Martin Early STEAM Academy Saint Martin STEAM Academy

08/07/2026

There is something incredibly special happening at The Leah Chase School this year…

This summer, Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU had the privilege of spending five incredible days with the amazing educators at The Leah Chase School, officially welcoming them into our school network! 💜💛

Throughout our Summer Institute, teachers embraced arts integration, learned from one another, and reminded us that the arts have the power to transform teaching and learning across every classroom.

These educators bring an incredible amount of creativity, passion and unwavering commitment to students every single day. Their willingness to learn, create, and grow together reminds us why this work matters. And if this video is any indication…they’re pretty amazing artists and musicians, too. We knew they were exceptional teachers.. we just didn’t realize we’d be surrounded by so many talented creators! 👩🏽‍🎨🎶

We’re equally grateful for the outstanding support of NOLA Public Schools, whose partnership and commitment to innovative teaching are helping make this vision possible. When dedicated educators are supported by leaders who believe in them, incredible things happen for students.

Welcome to the Louisiana A+ Schools family, Leah Chase School! We are excited for the journey ahead and can’t wait to see the impact your teachers will make.

💜💛🎨🎭🎶🧑🏾‍🩰

Team of facilitating Fellows: Jeremy Ward, Dominique Gibbs, Tyquencia Vessel, lead by Rebecca Orillion

📸 Jody Fruge’ photography
👩🏽‍💻Annah Blaire Quinn

LSU College of Human Sciences and Education LSU School of Education

07/23/2026

What an incredible week so far at our Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU Summer Institute in New Orleans! This week, we're working with the amazing educators of The Leah Chase School as they explore how the arts can deepen learning, increase student engagement, and create meaningful connections across all subject areas.
From collaborative learning experiences to hands-on arts-integrated lessons, these teachers are building the tools and confidence to create classrooms where creativity and academic achievement go hand in hand.
We can't wait to see the impact this work will have on students throughout the school year. Thank you to The Leah Chase School and NOLA Public Schools for partnering with us to make this journey possible!


LSU LSU College of Human Sciences and Education NOLA Public Schools

07/15/2026

What an inspiring day! 🎨🎭🎶

Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU was honored to be a part of the Louisiana Department of Education’s Aspiring Educators Summer Academy hosted by LSU, giving future educators the opportunity to experience arts integration firsthand through movement, theatre, visual art, music, and literacy.

Participants kicked off the day by experiencing arts integration through movement, music, and collaborative community-building before rotating through immersive, arts integrated learning experiences. They explored civic responsibility through Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms and tableau theatre, discovered how visual art, mathematics, and literacy intersect through Auguste Herbin’s geometric compositions, and finally experienced how dance and music can strengthen reading comprehension by bringing supporting details and text evidence to life.

A special thank you to our incredible Louisiana A+ Fellows Bernard McPherson, Rebecca Orillion, and Emily Gulett for creating engaging, hands-on learning experiences that inspired the next generation of teachers.

We can’t wait to see the creativity these future educators bring to their own classrooms!



LSU LSU College of Human Sciences and Education LSU School of Education Louisiana Department of Education