SB 192: "An Act relating to screening reading deficiencies and providing reading intervention services to public school students enrolled in grades kindergarten through three."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 192 01 "An Act relating to screening reading deficiencies and providing reading intervention 02 services to public school students enrolled in grades kindergarten through three." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.30.760(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) To implement the district reading intervention services established under 06 AS 14.30.765, the department shall 07 (1) adopt a statewide screening tool to administer to students in grades 08 kindergarten through three to identify students with reading deficiencies, including 09 students with characteristics of dyslexia; the screening tool must evaluate 10 (A) phonemic awareness, letter naming fluency, letter sound 11 fluency, and letter word sound fluency of students in kindergarten; 12 (B) letter word sound fluency and oral reading fluency of 13 students in grade one; 14 (C) vocabulary and oral reading fluency of students in grades
01 two and three; 02 (2) support teachers of grades kindergarten through three by 03 (A) administering the statewide screening tool three times each 04 school year, once in the fall, once in the winter, and once in the spring, to all 05 students in grades kindergarten through three [, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 06 STUDENTS WHO DEMONSTRATE SUFFICIENT READING SKILLS ON 07 THE FIRST SCREENING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR]; 08 (B) providing methods to monitor student progress; 09 (C) providing targeted instruction based on student needs as 10 determined by the results of the screening tool; and 11 (D) providing additional assistance as determined by the 12 department; 13 (3) provide training to school district staff related to using the results 14 of the statewide screening tool and understanding evidence-based reading 15 interventions, including explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, 16 phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, oral language skills, and reading 17 comprehension; 18 (4) require that districts identify the early education programs attended 19 by students and report to the department the average score on each performance 20 screening tool by students in grades kindergarten through three who 21 (A) attended a state-approved early education program; 22 (B) attended a head start program; 23 (C) attended a private early education program; 24 (D) did not attend an early education program; 25 (5) establish a process that allows the commissioner to waive, upon 26 request, use of the statewide screening tool required under this subsection by a school 27 district if the school district has adopted an evidence-based reading screening tool and 28 the screening tool is approved by the department; 29 (6) review, approve, and assist districts developing alternative 30 standardized reading screening tools in any language for use by school districts. 31 * Sec. 2. AS 14.30.765(f) is amended to read:
01 (f) If it is determined, based on a statewide screening administered in the 02 spring, that a student in grade three has a reading deficiency, and the student does not 03 demonstrate sufficient reading skills to progress to grade four under (e) of this section, 04 the student's teacher and other pertinent district staff shall notify and attempt to meet 05 with the student's parent or guardian to explain that the student is not prepared to 06 progress to grade four. School staff shall work with the parent or guardian to schedule 07 a date, time, and place for the meeting, to be held after the spring screening 08 assessment and not later than 15 [45] days before the end of the school year. 09 Following that meeting, the parent or guardian may decide that the student will not 10 progress to grade four or decide to progress the student to grade four by signing a 11 waiver developed by the department acknowledging that the student is not prepared 12 and agreeing that the student will participate in an additional 20 hours of individual 13 reading improvement plan intervention services during the summer before the student 14 enters grade four. If no parent or guardian attends the meeting or if the parent or 15 guardian does not determine whether the student will progress to the next grade, the 16 superintendent or the superintendent's designee shall, after considering the student's 17 best interests and whether the student has previously not progressed to the next grade, 18 determine whether the student will progress to grade four.