2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 57
BY SENATOR ROBERT MILLS
A RESOLUTION
To recognize May 3, 2023, as Literacy Day at the state capitol.
WHEREAS, seventy-four percent of Louisiana's fourth grade students do not read
proficiently, and dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects as many as one in five
people; and
WHEREAS, students who do not read proficiently by the end of the third grade are
four times more likely to drop out of school, and those who have not mastered at least a
basic level of reading proficiency are nearly six times as likely to leave school without
earning a diploma; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Literacy and Learning was founded in 1992 and is
celebrating its thirtieth anniversary as an organization dedicated to facilitating leading-edge
scientific research, knowledge, and best practices that improve teaching and increase student
learning; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Literacy and Learning and the Louisiana Department of
Education have formed a partnership to improve the state's literacy rates; and
WHEREAS, with an in-the-trenches approach, the Center for Literacy and Learning
tackles real-world issues in an effective way by searching for ways to remediate struggling
readers, differentiate instruction for diverse learners, and build and sustain collective
capacity; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Literacy and Learning and the Louisiana Department of
Education have created a key partnership emphasizing the importance of improving our
state's literacy rates and launched the Literacy Coach Program in 2020. As of the 2022-2023
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school year, the Literacy Coach Program has served twenty local education agencies across
eighteen parishes, sixty-five schools, and fifty-two literacy coaches; and
WHEREAS, in 2019 the Center for Literacy and Learning successfully advocated
for the legislative creation of the Early Literacy Commission consisting of a body of experts
guiding the future of literacy policy and programming; and
WHEREAS, improving literacy rates in Louisiana is necessary to increase Louisiana
students' success in all other areas of education.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend the dedicated work of the Center for Literacy and Learning and does
hereby extend gratitude for its work in improving reading proficiency in all of Louisiana's
students; and does hereby designate May 3, 2023, as Literacy Day at the Louisiana State
Capitol.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
Center for Literacy and Learning.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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