HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 27

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE WORK WITH THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY, THE NEW MEXICO BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND OTHERS TO STUDY AND DRAFT A LITERACY LAW FOR NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, the United States once led the world in college graduation rates, but now it ranks only fourteenth out of twenty-two developed countries and, even worse, it has the eighth-lowest high school graduation rate; and

     WHEREAS, in a recent literacy study of thirty-one nations, the United States' fifteen-year-olds finished fifteenth in literacy scores; and

     WHEREAS, approximately one-third of all fourth grade students in the United States fail to read fluently enough to comprehend text-level reading, and this gap only worsens as students continue through to upper grades, with the likely result that large numbers of students drop out of school; and

     WHEREAS, literacy and education are intrinsically linked, and literacy provides the basis for all other accomplishments in education, jobs and careers, hobbies, knowledge attainment, self-esteem, social status and, ultimately, quality of life; and

     WHEREAS, in stark human terms, the consequences of illiteracy are catastrophic, not just for the individual but for everyone and all communities; and

     WHEREAS, human beings are not born to read, so there is no biological imperative to read as there is to vocalize; reading is an invention, something that must be taught, which means there must be teachers who know how to teach reading; and

     WHEREAS, schools are society's key resource for teaching all of its members to read and when schools fail to teach children how to read, the whole of the societal base fails and American democracy's promise to the world and to history falters and fades as another generation is lost to illiteracy and poor education;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative education study committee work with the public education department, the office of education accountability, the New Mexico business roundtable for educational excellence and others to study and draft a literacy law that provides for:

          A. the teaching of the science of reading and scientifically based reading instruction for students in teacher preparation programs, including best practices for identifying the best method of teaching children who learn to read differently;

          B. licensure requirements for teachers that include knowledge of scientifically based reading instruction and more stringent requirements for teachers of reading;

          C. screening and assessment of students' reading abilities; and

          D. the provision of scientifically based reading instruction for all students and remediation of students who are determined to have dyslexia and other reading difficulties; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative education study committee present a report, to include recommendations for a model literacy law, to the legislature by January 1, 2012; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the legislative education study committee for further distribution.

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