by Hanna Singh
Cedar Creek School is now offering a unique program to help students with learning differences achieve academic excellence.
At the Grand Opening Ceremony and Program Dedication, the school announced their plans for the Cedar Creek Acceleration Program (CCAP) and its future.
Members of the Cedar Creek staff, parents, students, and board members gathered with community members and media to recognize the contribution that the CCAP program will bring to the campus and the community.
At the dedication, Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker highlighted the importance of Cedar Creek’s efforts to provide new opportunities for students.
“We just appreciate so very much what Cedar Creek is doing,” Walker said. “This is so incredible and such a needed service in our community. Cedar Creek has always been a bright and shining star in our city. It helps us so much to have a school like this with these opportunities in our community. To all the parents, to the board, to the teachers and to Mr. Kenny we say thank you and we look forward to the miracles that will happen here.”
Serving as a launchpad for students with unique learning differences, the CCAP supports students through different intervention techniques, specialized instruction and diagnostic evaluation. The program was designed for students with multiple learning differences including dyslexia or language-based learning differences, slow processing or memory challenges, struggles with foundational skills, gaps in literacy or numeracy foundations, and other difficulties with comprehension and understanding.
Head of School, Kenny Henderson explained the need for the CCAP program and why it was implemented.
“Every person has different skills and different gifts. A lot of students with learning differences are able to see the big picture and see things much clearer overall. They may just have trouble with the minute details,” Henderson said. “The CCAP is a much-needed program not only for our campus, but for Ruston and Northeast Louisiana in general.
“About 20% of the population has some form of Dyslexia or learning difference, but there aren’t a lot of resources out there. Our job is to try to help those students, with those differences, succeed. We’ve already identified several students at Cedar Creek that this will benefit, and we hope to soon help many more. That is our intent.”
The CCAP program hit the ground running at the start of the 2025-26 school year, with two teachers on staff. Now, at the start of the second semester, the program has four teachers working to help students succeed. The current CCAP staff include Founding Co-Director Jenny Morse, Founding Co-Director and Reading Specialist Allison Milstead, Literacy Specialist Alice Higginbotham, and Math Specialist Patsy Williams.
While being in the CCAP program, students will receive help from the instructional support team in partnership with their teachers and families, to ensure that they are receiving the tools and encouragement they need to thrive. The program will have resources geared toward supporting students in the lower, middle and upper schools.
Cedar Creek Director of Admissions Caty Simmons expressed her pride in seeing the program come to fruition.
“We are incredibly proud of the work that has gone into creating this new program,” Simmons said. “It allows students to grow and thrive by using the unique gifts God has given them, while receiving the specialized support they need to succeed academically. A program like this has been needed in North Louisiana for a long time, and we are excited about the opportunity it brings to our students and our community.”
