BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's education leaders are working on plans aimed at improving reading skills for the state's youngest students, hoping to reverse years of neglect that has stifled education achievement for decades.

The Advocate reports that students from kindergarten through second grade have long been absent from Louisiana's accountability system. The state's focus on improving public schools has long centered on third graders and older.

"We have to give K-2 more attention," state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said in an interview.

Thousands of the state's youngest...