Common Core testing begins Monday in La. public schools

BATON ROUGE - About 300,000 public school students are taking tests this week tied to the Common Core education standards without the boycotts or heated political rhetoric that marked the testing last year.Hollis Milton, president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents and West Feliciana Parish schools superintendent, reported that "there's an overall calmer environment" for testing this year.Most students in third grade through eighth grade will spend parts of Monday through Thu