ENROLLED
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Regular Session, 2010
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 179
BY REPRESENTATIVE AUSTIN BADON
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To urge and request the Department of Social Services and the state Department of
Education to work collaboratively to ensure that children enter kindergarten ready
to learn, to establish and maintain an infrastructure for the coordination of data, and
to submit by March first annually a school readiness report to the governor, the
House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education, and the State
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
WHEREAS, research has demonstrated that investments in high-quality early
learning programs set the stage for long-term positive outcomes for children, reduce the need
for special education services, increase high school graduation rates, reduce incarceration
rates, and increase self-sufficiency; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana has developed a nationally recognized pre-kindergarten
program known as LA-4, which serves approximately sixteen thousand students in the six-
hour instructional program and one thousand seven hundred students in the before- and after-
school enrichment program in sixty-five school districts and fifteen charter schools
throughout the state; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana was the fifteenth state in the nation to implement a Quality
Rating and Improvement System (Quality Start) for child care centers; more than half of the
state's licensed child care centers voluntarily participated within the first two years, with a
capacity of one hundred forty-one thousand three hundred thirty-seven children; and
WHEREAS, the federal Administration for Children and Families has established
Head Start and Early Head Start programs throughout the state, providing a comprehensive
approach to child development for the twenty-tw o thousand eight hundred seventy-six
currently enrolled children; and ENROLLEDHCR NO. 179
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WHEREAS, "ensuring all Louisiana children enter kindergarten ready to learn" is
a common goal of the Department of Social Services and the state Department of Education;
and
WHEREAS, school readiness does not begin in kindergarten, but prenatally, with the
most critical brain development occurring between birth and the age of three; and
WHEREAS, there is consensus based on research that a child's readiness for school
should reflect the following five distinct but connected domains: physical well-being and
motor development, social and emotional development, cognitive development, language
development, and approaches to learning.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Department of Social Services and the state Department of Education
to work collaboratively to provide for the following in the effort to ensure that children enter
kindergarten ready to learn:
(1) The development of a statewide definition of school readiness.
(2) The establishment of the departments' respective reporting requirements and time
frames.
(3) The establishment of the respective roles and responsibilities of each department.
(4) The development of a framework to integrate data and measure program
outcomes.
(5) The establishment of methods to assess the use of resources currently being
invested in child development and early learning so as to reduce duplication among
programs.
(6) The development of an integrated professional development system for the early
learning workforce.
(7) The integration of family literacy services into the early learning system.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature does hereby urge and request the
Department of Social Services and the state Department of Education to establish and
maintain an infrastructure for the coordination of department data regarding the state's
school readiness and early learning efforts.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature does hereby urge and request the
Department of Social Services and the state Department of Education annually to submit, ENROLLEDHCR NO. 179
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by March first, a school readiness report to the governor, the House Committee on
Education, the Senate Committee on Education, and the State Board of Elementary and
Secondary Education detailing the current status of children's readiness for school and the
coordinated continuous quality improvement efforts of the respective departments.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Department of Social Services, to the state superintendent of education, and
to the president of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE