The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) recently hosted its inaugural L³ Summit: Embracing Leadership, Language, and Literacy, which drew 453 educators, administrators, and literacy champions from across the state. The summit was supported by Wyoming’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant, the state’s largest federally funded language and literacy initiative.

Statewide Literacy Implementation

The WDE has advanced emergency rules to Governor Mark Gordon for approval and is submitting regular rules shortly for further public comment. The summit marked Wyoming’s efforts to activate statewide implementation of the Science of Reading, following the passage of Senate File 0059, the Wyoming Language and Literacy Act.

“Literacy is the foundation of a student’s future, and without it, nothing else matters. In Wyoming, we will not allow another student to fall through the cracks,” said Superintendent Megan Degenfelder. “The passage of SF0059 provides the systemic levers to impact every child. But legislative mandates don’t teach a child to read; our educators do. Together, we will make permanent the practices that empower our education leaders to ensure literacy for all Wyoming students.”

Local Impact

A central theme of the conference was the interconnectedness of the three Ls: Leadership creates sustainable systems, Language builds the vital foundation, and Literacy ultimately unlocks the future. The summit also emphasized a holistic approach to education by highlighting the need to bridge regional silos and build active, lasting literacy partnerships with parents and caregivers at home.

As the summit concluded, Wyoming’s education leaders departed with concrete, localized action plans ready for deployment in the upcoming school year.

Original reporting: Sheridan Media (Sheridan WY) — read the source article.