SSSB 203: "An Act relating to phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, word-attack skills, spelling, vocabulary, use of decodable text, reading comprehension strategies, and testing for basic reading and reading comprehension skills in the public school system."
00SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 203 01 "An Act relating to phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, word-attack 02 skills, spelling, vocabulary, use of decodable text, reading comprehension strategies, 03 and testing for basic reading and reading comprehension skills in the public 04 school system." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that all public school 07 elementary students receive adequate language education. If the public school students of a 08 school district fall below the national average for language education, it is also the purpose 09 of this Act to encourage the school district to adopt intensive systematic phonics and spelling 10 instruction in the elementary school curriculum, along with other methods of instruction, in 11 order to increase skills in reading, writing, and spelling. 12 * Sec. 2. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 13 Article 12. Language Education. 14 Sec. 14.30.800. Language education curriculum. (a) All students in the
01 first, second, and third grades shall be tested for basic reading and reading 02 comprehension skills, using a nationally normed group-administered test approved by 03 the department. Testing shall be conducted in the fall of each school year. The 04 individual results of tests required under this subsection must be provided to each 05 student's parent or guardian and to the principal of the school. Results for each grade 06 level in the school must be provided to each student's parent or guardian, to the school 07 district, to the commissioner, and to the legislature. A student in the first, second, or 08 third grade who tests at or in the lowest 25 percent of the nationally normed test, or 09 a student who a parent or teacher believes has a reading, writing, spelling, or math 10 learning problem, shall also be tested for word-attack and word identification skills, 11 vocabulary, and reading comprehension, using a nationally normed and individually 12 administered test approved by the department. 13 (b) If a majority of the students in a grade level tested under (a) of this section 14 tests at or below the 25th percentile of the nationally tested students for three 15 consecutive school years, a governing body shall include intensive systematic phonics 16 and spelling instruction in the curriculum for elementary school. The language 17 education curriculum must include, in addition to children's literature, explicit, 18 systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, word-attack 19 skills, spelling, vocabulary, use of decodable text, and reading comprehension 20 strategies.