Ensuring Literacy
Reducing Student Retention
Click here for full overview (pdf)
Reading is the fundamental skill on which all learning depends. Any child who doesn’t learn to read well will not easily master other skills and is unlikely to flourish in school or in life.
Reading is a difficult skill to master and many children have difficulty learning. The reading problem is even more widespread among children from a high poverty environment. From the school perspective, low reading achievement is the greatest contributing factor to chronically low performing schools. In Louisiana, less than half of low-income 4th graders read at or above the basic level compared to nearly three quarters of their middle-class peers.
The development of reading skills is necessary for success in school or career. This is why Louisiana’s accountability and standards system has “beamed the light” on literacy in public schools. This focus is intentional and intense: literacy provides every child the opportunity to build the skills to graduate from high school and prepare for post-secondary education and employment.
The good news is that a large body of research exists on reading and there is a consensus among educators and researchers on what we must do to help students succeed. This is captured in the “Report of the National Reading Panel” and has been combined with a study of best practices used by the Alabama Reading Initiative to develop the “Louisiana’s Literacy Plan: Ensuring Literacy for All.” (www.doe.state.la.us/LDE/uploads/11190.doc)
The Louisiana Department of Education is committed to improving reading instruction in all classrooms with an eye toward universal literacy among Louisiana’s public school students. Currently, 175 schools (160 elementary schools with 15 middle and high schools) participate in this intense focus on “Ensuring Literacy for All.”
Of course, the success of literacy instruction in Louisiana will not happen in isolation – it is dependent on the preparation and motivation of high quality teachers. Louisiana universities work to improve the undergraduate instruction of future teachers in the area of literacy instruction. School districts focus on professional development for existing principals, teachers, literacy coaches and reading interventionists. School leadership organizes instructional improvement around the belief that reading is fundamental.
