Reaffirming their commitment to use educational data to inform and improve student achievement from pre-K to college, Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) officials announced today that the state agency has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to enrich its current longitudinal data information system.

Louisiana is one of 26 states to receive the 2009 grant through the USDOE's Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program. Since 2005, the federal program has been providing states with three-year, competitive, cooperative agreement grants ranging from $1.5 million to $6 million. This is the first time Louisiana has been awarded th! e grant.

LDOE plans to utilize the funding to develop the Louisiana Education Data Repository System (LEDRS), which is designed to achieve three primary objectives.

Education Contest

From April 20 - 22, 2009, students from across Louisiana will gather to compete in the Louisiana SkillsUSA championships hosted by the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, Louisiana Technical College - Lafayette Campus and South Louisiana Community College.

More than 600 contestants, made up of high school students and technical/community college students, will match their abilities against their peers in various contests which are designed and judged by approximately 195 experts from local labor and industry. Participants will compete in 54 skill areas including Automotive Service Technology, Carpentry, Culinary Arts, First Aid and CPR, Practical Nursing, Web design and other in-demand career fields. The championships are one of the state's largest gatherings of business, industry and education.

The championships will begin on Monday afternoon, April 20, at the Heymann Center with registration from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. On the morning of Tuesday, April 21, the competitions will begin at 8:00 a.m. in 54 contest areas at the LTC Lafayette Campus, W.D. Smith Career and Technology Center, and South Louisiana Community College. The closing awards ceremony will take place Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Cajundome Convention Center.

Gold medal winners from Louisiana will go on to compete on the national level in June in Kansas City, Missouri.

Camellia Grill

On Thursday, April 16, at 6:00 AM, Camellia Grill®, a New Orleans landmark will open in Destin, Florida, its first venue outside of New Orleans at Harbor Walk Village in Destin Florida., Camellia Grill® joins Pat O’Brien’s and Commander’s Palace, adjacent to the Emerald Grand at the foot of the Destin Bridge, overlooking the Destin Harbor.

Fed to invest $13 billion in nationwide high-speed rail project