A new report from Louisiana finds that relatively simple tests of teachers can serve as reasonable proxies for teacher quality. According to the report submitted to the Louisiana state school board, school district performance correlated with how well teachers did on their teaching exams and where they went to college. Districts that had the most teachers who scored above average on teaching exams as well as the most teachers from out-of-state schools had the highest student performance on state exams. In the Orleans parish (district) the state s most troubled only teachers who attended the University of New Orleans or out of state schools generally scored above average on state exams.