Bill Text: NY S05232 | 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 9-2)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S05232 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S05232-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5232

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 27, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. THOMAS, CLEARE, GALLIVAN, GOUNARDES, HELMING, JACK-
          SON, KENNEDY, KRUEGER, MYRIE, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered print-
          ed, and when printed to be committed 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.
    24  Mandatory early screening  shall  commence  during  pre-kindergarten  or

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02702-01-3
        S. 5232                             2

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