9486 in the collection
Loisiana needs reading literacy dollars
The outrage here is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
Reid Lyon needs no introduction. FYI: Kerry Laster is the owner and director of The Reading Center Inc.
Editorial
It is beyond comprehension the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee would produce a state budget proposal that devastates the one program that's the most important initiative for public education in the state this year.
In fact, it may be the most important program for many years to come. It could actually mean all Louisiana students would be able to read by the fourth grade and the state would no longer be ranked 50th.
Isn't anyone in the statehouse tired of being last? Does anyone recognize it will take commitment and resources for a rising tide that will float all boats?
As the House of Representatives considers the budget proposal, House Bill 1, surely forward-thinking legislators will work immediately to examine the latest pet projects and restore funding for the Ensuring Literacy for All Initiative. They must take to heart the passionate words of state Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek, who labeled the reading initiative his No. 1 priority and testified: "If kids cannot master reading, we are dooming the kids and we are dooming our state."
The $14.5 million proposed allocation for the literacy program is a drop in the bucket in the state's $30 billion budget for the coming year. It was among some $120 million pared by the budget committee Sunday, even as the panel added $15 million in funding for 140 of its own pet projects and organizations, many of them nongovernmental organizations.
As worthy as some of those causes may be, none is likely to have the society-changing impact of a top-quality, statewide literacy program that can produce long-term results in individual lives, the economy and the attractiveness of the state. Right now, Louisiana ranks 50th in fourth-grade reading, according to the 2007 National Assessment of Education Progress.
Pastorek and his staff have spent untold hours researching the issue, studying the best-of-the-best programs in the nation and laying out a pre-K through 4th-grade program aimed at having all Louisiana students reading and writing at or above grade level. When Pastorek spoke on behalf of the literacy issue, he brought with him a nationally renowned reading expert, Reid Lyon, and Louisiana's top reading authority, Kerry Laster, who both testified to the pain, public health issues and lifetime of difficulties that befall those who cannot read.
After studying Louisiana schools and visiting classrooms in the past year, Lyon reported 30 percent of third-graders and 40 percent of fourth-graders could not read. "They had given up and had suffered a great deal of pain and humiliation. "ยป What is most tragic is that it does not have to be this way."
The fact is, Lyon said, educators have figured out how to help students who don't know how to read. "We have anticipated the barriers, and we know how to go through them, around them and over them."
In short, the answer requires commitment and resources to provide teachers and principals with the key skills and support necessary for the teaching of reading.
Louisiana's proposed literacy initiative would provide a scientifically based strategy that includes continuous and strong professional development programs with coaches, interventionists and mentors all along the way. It would coordinate and focus all current literacy efforts. It would begin with some current targeted schools, some volunteer schools and a select number of pilot and intervention programs. Unquestionably, it should be allowed to take flight in the coming year and expand in future years to the successful program it can be.
Louisiana legislators must restore the $14.5 million budget item to ensure literacy for our youngest learners and, ultimately, for all our future citizens. It's an investment that cannot be put off any longer.
— Editorial
Shreveport Times
2008-05-15
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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