(1) Reading is the gateway to learning and a key to building a child’s self-esteem.
(2) Children who read below grade level after third grade are at significantly greater risk of truancy, school failure, criminal and at-risk behaviors, early pregnancy and substance abuse.
(3) Research shows that children who have academic problems and exhibit at-risk behavior can be helped most effectively through prevention programs designed specifically to strengthen the collaborative and collective decision-making skills of kindergarten through grade three teachers and administrators within each individual school.
(4) Scientifically based assessment methods can identify as early as kindergarten those children needing extra help to successfully learn to read.
(5) Scientifically based instructional reading materials can provide the reading skills children need to successfully learn to read. [2001 c.861 §1]
Note: 329.832 to 329.837 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 329 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.