RS 17:255 Repealed by acts 2010, no. 500, §1.
SUBPART C-2. PARENTS AS TEACHERS PROGRAM
§255. Legislative intent
The legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1) The home environment and parental attitudes about the value of education can have a significant effect on a child's ability or desire to learn.
(2) A well-substantiated body of research on how children learn and grow clearly indicates that a child's most productive and influential years of learning occur before the age of five.
(3) Experts in child development generally agree that fifty percent of intelligence, and the great majority of language skills, are developed by age four, and that these, along with the establishment of curiosity and social skills, lay the foundation for all further learning.
(4) Failure in the early years to develop adequately in these areas has been shown to lead directly to underachievement and failure in the elementary grades and beyond.
(5) Most of the children headed for academic difficulty at age six and beyond are, by age three, already significantly behind their peers.
(6) After years of remedial education programs, Louisiana is still faced with an unacceptably high dropout rate, and the dropout rate for minorities is particularly high.
(7) The potential dropout often comes from a home in which well-intentioned but untrained parents have not gained, or do not use effectively, their personal resources to adequately nurture in their child the intellectual and social skills required for success in the early grades.
(8) Louisiana is tied with three states as having the highest illiteracy rate in the nation, and experts agree that literacy skills are most often successfully formed in the early years at home.
(9) Parents are the first and most influential teachers in their child's life and a free developmental resource for their child.
(10) Neither public nor private institutions are systematically providing a meaningful number of Louisiana's parents with research-based, up-to-date instructions in giving their children the best possible beginning.
(11) The family is the proper and most influential first educational delivery system for the child.
(12) Evidence exists that a child's early experiences can significantly enhance or inhibit development and learning. It is both educationally sound and most cost-effective for schools to work cooperatively with the home during the crucial first years.
(13) High quality parenting can be one of this country's greatest national resources. It is a learned skill that can be improved for the benefit of the individual family and for our society.
Acts 1991, No. 548, §1.