BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) has contracted with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Research Consortium to develop a method and the tools for providing enhanced information on workforce demand and projected supply to help build and manage a more responsive workforce delivery system.

LAFAYETTE, LA – Dr. Ronald F. Ferguson, nationally acclaimed economist and Sr. Research Associate at Harvard’s Weiner Center for Social Policy, visited with Lafayette Parish School Board officials Friday to discuss the recent administration of the Tripod Survey in four high poverty schools in Lafayette Parish.

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette recently released its highly anticipated report on the impact of Louisiana’s nationally acclaimed Cecil J. Picard pre-kindergarten program, which shows consistent results of high-quality early childhood education positively impacting the academic success of at-risk children. The report, recently presented to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), shows that the educational gains made by students enrolled in LA 4 translate into improved iLEAP and LEAP test performance, and reveals continued participant benefits through the fourth grade.

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Special Children’s Foundation was named the 2008 Outstanding Philanthropic Organization by the Planned Giving Council of Acadiana at a Philanthropy Day of Acadiana reception. The reception was held November 11 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Alumni Center.

Philanthropy Day of Acadiana is held in conjunction with National Philanthropy Day. “Philanthropy Day is a day of celebration for those who exemplify the true spirit of generosity, creative leadership and community support,” said Philanthropy Day Awards Chair Sarah H. Berthelot. “The purpose of this day is to recognize the great contributions of philanthropy – and those people active in the philanthropic community – to the enrichment of our world.”

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning recently released its 2008 Louisiana Study on Problem Gambling. The study is intended to compare and contrast various degrees of gambling activity throughout Louisiana to determine if gambling is spread statewide or concentrated in specific areas.

The four areas measured in the study, which were divided by region, were gaming establishments and video gambling devices per capita rates, problem and pathological gambling rates, calls to the Louisiana Problem Gamblers Helpline and youth gambling data collected from the 2006 Louisiana Caring Communities Youth Survey.

The study reveals that youth data collected from the 2006 CCYS indicate that almost 50% of Louisiana 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students have engaged in some form of gambling, most of them in the previous year. Additionally, the data reveals 1.7 percent of gamblers in Louisiana are problem gamblers and 1.4 percent are compulsive gamblers. This represents an estimated 54,360 problem gamblers statewide, and 44,767 pathological gamblers.

Click here to view the 2008 Louisiana Study on Problem Gambling compiled by The Picard Center.

LAFAYETTE, La. – Friends, family and staff of the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS on Saturday, Nov. 1 to publicly honor former State Superintendent of Education, Cecil Picard. Picard was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, in May 2005 and aggressively battled the disease until his death from complications in February 2007.

More than 30 supporters of the Center raised money for the ALS Association - Louisiana Chapter and walked in the 1.25-mile fundraiser around Girard Park. The Center’s team, Cajuns Ragin’ for a Cure, also designed t-shirts for the ALS walk and won first place in the fundraiser’s T-Shirt Contest.

“I’m very proud of the Center’s outpouring of support and participation in the Walk for ALS to remember our dear friend, Cecil Picard,” said Dr. Billy Stokes, Executive Director of the Picard Center. “The Picard Center looks forward to its continued participation in such events until a permanent cure for ALS is found.”

The Center, named in honor of Superintendent Picard, is dedicated to providing high-quality evaluations of programs that address learning from birth through adulthood, and investigates ways to bring scientifically-based research to bear on public policy in all areas of child education, health and well-being. The Center awaits the development of its new 22,000 square-foot building, to be built within two years at a cost of approximately $7.2 million in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Research Park. 

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LAFAYETTE, La. – The Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education and Education’s Next Horizon for a statewide summit dedicated to dropout prevention on Tuesday, October 28, at the Baton Rouge River Center.

The Picard Center compiled dropout profiles for each of the state’s 70 school districts, and its staff facilitated breakout sessions during the summit, where community, school and industry leaders assembled to discuss their district’s dropout profile. District leaders then worked together to find local solutions to address the crisis.

Following the state summit, regional summits will be held throughout Louisiana, where leaders from each of the state’s school districts will form Community Leadership Teams to develop plans for improving each community’s dropout rate.

Click here to view the Louisiana District Dropout Profiles compiled by The Picard Center.

LAFAYETTE, La. – The results are now available of a recently released report on the Community Audit for Arts Education: Better Schools, Better Skills, Better Communities, a project of the Acadiana Arts Council and the Lafayette Parish School Board, in collaboration with the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Lafayette’s Community Audit was designed to help leaders facilitate discussions regarding the status of arts education in a district or districts in a local community, and facilitated through the combined efforts of Lafayette’s Partner In Education team, a managing audit coordinator, the Kennedy Center’s Education Department and a host of community volunteers. The group used the Kennedy Center’s document as the basis for the project; however the questions were adapted for use in the Lafayette community during a series of round table discussions where participants completed the survey and engaged in open discussions that were generated through its use.

Download PDF here.