We advocate for families of children with learning differences, by providing parents, students, and educators the information they need to effectively navigate the New Orleans school system.
Why start in
New Orleans, LA?
According to the 2019 NAEP Reading Assessment, 74% of students in Louisiana are not reading at a proficient level. This is much higher than the national average, and 45% of students are performing at the below basic level. What is is worse, Black students had an average score that was 28 points lower than that for White students. This performance gap was not significantly different from the national average in 1998 (32 points).
What we’re doing:
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Advocating for local and systemic change, including policy change
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Providing relevant resources about learning differences, such as our glossary
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Mobilizing national ambassadors to take action in their own communities
Facts about…
Prevalence of Learning Differences:
Learning differences run in families. A child with ADHD, for example, has about a one in four chance of having a sibling or parent with ADHD. More boys are identified with learning differences compared to girls. Only half of all public school students are boys, yet two-thirds of the students getting special education services for LDs are boys.
The Effects of Literacy:
Students who do not read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school. Furthermore, 2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
Prevalence of Special Ed Services:
In 2019–20, the number of students ages 3–21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was 7.3 million, or 14 percent of all public school students. Among students receiving special education services, the most common category of disability (33 percent) was specific learning disabilities.
Counselor Availability:
According to the Office for Civil Rights, 1.6 million students attend a school with a sworn law enforcement officers (SLEO), but not a school counselor. The national student-to-counselor ratio is 491-to-1, however the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250-to-1.
