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.169715.1
HOUSE MEMORIAL 109
48
TH LEGISLATURE
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
FIRST SESSION
, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
Mimi Stewart
A MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE TO STUDY
THE 2008 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL READING ADOPTION AND
ENCOURAGING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO NARROW THE
ADOPTION LIST TO ONLY SCIENTIFICALLY BASED INSTRUCTIONAL
MATERIALS.
WHEREAS, reading is the very foundation of formal
education in the modern world, for without the ability to read,
a child is not able to progress successfully through the
remainder of a school curriculum; and
WHEREAS, reading is a learned skill that includes oral
language, phonological awareness, print awareness and
alphabetic awareness; and
WHEREAS, a child's failure to learn to read often results
in a devastating downward spiral that leads to low self-esteem
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.169715.1
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and underachievement, both in school and in life; and
WHEREAS, an extensive knowledge base now exists to show
teachers and parents the skills students must learn to read
well, and these skills provide the basis for sound curriculum
decisions and instructional approaches that can help prevent
the predictable consequences of early reading failure; and
WHEREAS, the state has invested in the reading initiative,
the literacy for children at risk program, kindergarten plus,
pre-kindergarten and now K-3 plus to help low-income children,
in particular, learn to read; and
WHEREAS, those programs, as well as other elementary
school reading programs, are required to teach reading using
scientifically based methods; and
WHEREAS, given the statutory requirements for
scientifically based reading programs, it is extremely
important that the instructional materials adopted by the
public education department be aligned with those requirements;
and
WHEREAS, the department must adopt reading instructional
materials in 2008, and it is imperative that it adopt only
those reading materials and programs that are scientifically
proven to teach children how to read;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES that the legislative education study committee
be requested to study the public education department's reading
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.169715.1
instructional materials adoption process and assist the
department and legislature, as needed, to ensure that only
scientifically proven instructional materials are adopted; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education
department be strongly encouraged to limit the reading
adoption, not only in quantity of materials adopted but in
quality as well, adopting only those instructional materials
that have been proven through scientific research to enhance
early language, cognitive and reading development skills and
that are based on the latest scientifically based research on
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text
comprehension; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the legislative education study committee and
the public education department.
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