A bill to improve literacy rates in Louisiana will be heard in the House this week. Mandeville Representative Richard Nelson’s bill is modeled on a Mississippi law that prohibits students with reading deficiencies by the end of the 3rd grade to be promoted to fourth grade. Nelson said since it was enacted in the Magnolia State in 2013…
“They’ve seen tremendous growth, they were below us in terms of that 4th-grade reading mark, but they’ve gone from number 49 in the country to now they’re ranked 29th as far as 4th-grade literacy,” said Nelson.
House Bill 269 allows the Louisiana Department of Education to determine testing qualifications for students and the criteria for promotion to the 4th grade. Nelson said when testing first went into effect in Mississippi the score was deliberately lowered so a large number of students would not be held back.
“And they’ve continued to raise it over the years and at the same time they’re raising the standard, they’re actually having fewer and fewer people actually held back. It’s really been demonstrated to be an effective way to improve literacy across the board,” said Nelson.
If the bill receives final passage, it will not go into effect until the 2023-2024 school year. Nelson said he expects the first year would most likely impact the greatest number of students. Testing would be administered more than once to would allow students another opportunity to improve their scores along with intensive training.
“If you can’t read by the time you get to 4th grade the chance of you graduating from high school, and getting a job, or going to college, or any of these other things, is significantly reduced. If we can address this, this is a fundamental issue of addressing so many other issues in our state,” said Nelson.
Nelson said one out of four 4th graders in Louisiana can’t read on grade level.
Comments