Bill Text: NY A04198 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires school districts to conduct mandatory early screening for dyslexia for all children commencing in pre-kindergarten or kindergarten and continuing thereafter on an annual basis until each child successfully completes second grade; requires school districts to designate an individual to maintain complete and accurate records containing early screening reports for each child, and to provide resources and materials to the parent and/or guardian of any child who displays indications of dyslexia.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-4)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to education [A04198 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A04198-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4198

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 13, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. SIMON, MEEKS, JEAN-PIERRE -- Multi-Sponsored by
          -- M. of A.   BRONSON, CARROLL, FALL, GLICK,  HUNTER,  LUPARDO,  McDO-
          NOUGH,  NORRIS,  SILLITTI, STECK, TAGUE, TAYLOR, THIELE, WALSH -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on Education

        AN ACT to amend the  education  law,  in  relation  to  mandatory  early
          screening for dyslexia

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 319 to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 319. Mandatory early screening for dyslexia. 1. All school districts
     4  shall be required to conduct full and individual screenings  in  accord-
     5  ance  with  this  section for purposes of early identification, support,
     6  intervention and accommodation  of  children  with  dyslexia  and  other
     7  learning disabilities. For purposes of this section, the term "dyslexia"
     8  means  a  specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin
     9  and that is characterized by unexpected difficulties  with  accurate  or
    10  fluent  word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities, which
    11  difficulty typically results from a deficit in the  phonological  compo-
    12  nent  of  language  and  that is inconsistent with the person's intelli-
    13  gence, motivation, and sensory capabilities and the provision of  effec-
    14  tive instruction.
    15    2.  Mandatory  early screening for dyslexia shall be conducted by each
    16  school district using an assessment tool that  includes  targeted  ques-
    17  tions  and student tasks designed to quickly and reliably gather certain
    18  relevant functional and developmental information  consistent  with  the
    19  research  findings  in  this  area  and supported by the findings in the
    20  Report of the National  Reading  Panel  from  2000,  from  all  children
    21  screened  pursuant  to  this  section. Such questions and tasks shall be
    22  aligned with developmental benchmarks in specific precursors  correlated
    23  with  reading  acquisition  based  on  the  recognized  reading science.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02702-01-3
        A. 4198                             2

     1  Mandatory early screening  shall  commence  during  pre-kindergarten  or
     2  kindergarten,  whichever is earlier, and shall continue thereafter on an
     3  annual basis until such child  has  successfully  completed  the  second
     4  grade.    The  assessment  tools used shall be selected from an approved
     5  list of tools deemed to be valid and reliable, with training and  subse-
     6  quent coaching provided to teachers to ensure fidelity to the assessment
     7  model  as  per  the  research methodology provided in the development of
     8  such tools.
     9    3. Upon completion of  the  administration  of  each  mandatory  early
    10  screening,  a copy of each early screening report and any other findings
    11  shall be given to the parent and/or guardian and teachers  and  teaching
    12  assistants  of each child identified as at risk for reading failure, and
    13  the individual designated in subdivision four of this section.
    14    4. Each school district shall  designate  an  individual  to  maintain
    15  complete  and accurate records, including copies of each early screening
    16  report, for all children for the duration of  each  child's  educational
    17  pursuit  or  until  such  child reaches the age of sixteen, whichever is
    18  later. The designated individual shall provide resources  and  materials
    19  to  the  parent  and/or  guardian of any child who displays low phonemic
    20  awareness and other indications of dyslexia.
    21    5. School districts shall ensure that the assessment results are  used
    22  in  a proactive manner, ensuring that findings of risk for reading fail-
    23  ure are followed up immediately by the provision of research-based meth-
    24  ods of instruction and intervention in the identified areas of  need  to
    25  ensure that risk does not turn into failure.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.