VIDALIA &045; Representatives from the State Department of Education asked parish administrators Wednesday to be patient with a new curriculum coming their way.

Principals, assistant principals and central office personnel got a rundown of the how the merger of the LEAP test and the IOWA test to form the iLEAP test will affect their schools. State personnel will explain the changes to teachers on Jan. 31.

To better prepare students for the new blended test the state is changing its curriculum to focus on specific grade level expectations.

Though the new curriculum will not be released until April 1, Regional Service Center Director Ginger Merritt told the administrators it would affect the way teachers teach.

A major goal of the new system will be to keep students at each grade level on track with students at that grade level across the state. One change includes more regulations on the order units are taught and the time spent on each unit.

The curriculum will provide teachers with sample activities geared toward hands-on learning and away from the textbook, Merritt said.

&uot;For stronger students, they have more challenging activities,&uot; she said. &uot;For those that need remediation, they have slower-paced activities.&uot;

Several principals questioned how rigid the sequencing of material would be and what would happen if a child needed more time on a specific grade level expectation.

Merritt said in order to ensure that all GLEs are taught by March test time, teachers will have to stay on track and teach in sequence. A district committee will meet to review requests for changes in the unit sequence.

&uot;For some of your very sequential teachers this is going to be very difficult,&uot; Merritt said. &uot;But the curriculum guarantees the GLEs will be taught.&uot;

The district must write an implementation plan for the new curriculum to be turned into the State Department before April. The plan must include professional development and monitoring steps.

A central office committee started meeting before Christmas to plan the implementation, Superintendent Kerry Laster said.

&uot;We have all struggled, struggled, struggled,&uot; she said. &uot;But be positive and don’t stress over something until we know. Let’s just remember that everything that is worthwhile takes a little bit of struggle.&uot;

Merritt said the curriculum and test changes were a response to federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Academic Affairs Director Fred Butcher told the administrators that change was always difficult.

&uot;We can’t tell you everything that’s next,&uot; he said. &uot;Next is meeting with the faculty.&uot;

Louisiana is the first state to combine the two tests. Students will take the iLEAP for the first time in spring 2006.