Oklahoma

HB390, HB 1228, and § 70-7001, 

HB 390 creates a scholarship to attend a private school of the recipient's choice. HB 1228 creates a professional development program .§70-7001 creates a dyslexia pilot program. Oklahoma’s dyslexia handbook defines dyslexia as follows: According to the Woodcock Johnson IV, “Dyslexia affects reading at the single word level, reading fluency and rate, and spelling.In turn, these weaknesses cause difficulties with reading comprehension and written expression. Other abilities that do not require reading, such as general intelligence, reasoning, oral language, mathematics, and knowledge are often unimpaired. In other words, the reading and spelling difficulties are often unexpected in relation to the person’s other abilities.” (Mather & Wendling, 2014).

A.    Beginning the 2022-2023 school year and for each school year thereafter, any student enrolled in kindergarten, first, second or third grade in a public school in this state who is assessed through the Reading Sufficiency Act pursuant to Section 1210.508C of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes and who is not meeting grade-level targets in reading after the beginning-of-the-year assessment shall be screened for dyslexia. Screening also may be requested for a student by his or her parent or guardian, teacher, counselor, speech-language pathologist or school psychologist.  

B.    No later than July 1, 2021, the State Board of Education shall develop policies for dyslexia screening required under this subsection and shall include, but not be limited to: 1. The definition and characteristics of dyslexia and related language disorders; 2. The process for referring students in kindergarten and grades one through three for screening; 3. A process for providing notification to parents of the use of a qualified dyslexia-screening tool and notification of the results of the screening; 4. A process for providing the parents of students screened for dyslexia with information and resource material regarding dyslexia; 5. A process for monitoring the student's progress after the positive identification of characteristics of dyslexia, or other disorders; and 6. Requirements and qualifications for screeners that demonstrate an understanding of and training to administer the screening instrument.

C.    The Board shall adopt a list of approved qualified dyslexia screening tools that address the following components, as developmentally appropriate: 1. Phonological awareness; 2. Advanced phonemic awareness;3. Sound symbol recognition;4. Alphabet knowledge; 5. Decoding skills; 6. Encoding skills; 7. Rapid naming; and Developmental language.

D.    Screening shall be conducted in accordance with the policies developed by the State Board of Education pursuant to subsection B of this section and the Oklahoma Dyslexia Handbook, including policies and information developed relating to universal screening of kindergarten students for characteristics of dyslexia. 

E.    Beginning June 30, 2023, and for each year thereafter, school districts shall provide the following data to the State Department of Education: 1. The number of students by grade level in kindergarten through grade three who were screened for dyslexia in a school year; 2. The number of students by grade level in kindergarten through grade three who were newly identified as having characteristics of dyslexia in a school year; 3. The process or tools used to evaluate student progress; 4. The number of trained school system personnel or licensed professionals used to administer the qualified dyslexia screening tool; 5. The number of students in kindergarten through grade three who were participating in interventions within the school setting and the number of students participating in interventions outside the school setting; and 6. The programs used by districts for intervention within the school setting. 

F.    By December 31, 2023, and for each year thereafter, the State Department of Education shall provide a report containing all of the information provided in subsection E of this section to the Governor and Legislature and make the report available on the Department's website.

According to the Reading Sufficiency Act, “Each program of reading instruction shall include provisions of the READ Initiative adopted by the school district as provided for in 70 O.S. § 1210.508C. For purposes of the Reading Sufficiency Act, a "program of reading instruction" shall be based upon a three-tiered Response to Intervention ("RtI") model, and shall include: (1) For students identified for Tier I intervention, a minimum of ninety (90) minutes of uninterrupted daily scientific-research-based reading instruction; (2) For students identified for Tier II intervention, at least an amount of uninterrupted scientific-research-based reading instructional time that is: (A) Based on specific student needs; (B) Reflects the needed intensity and/or frequency as identified on a screening tool, diagnostic assessment, and/or progress monitoring instrument; and (C) Is determined by the classroom teacher, reading specialist (if available), and building principal. (3) For students identified for Tier III intervention, at least forty-five (45) to sixty (60) minutes of additional uninterrupted daily scientific-research-based reading instruction in addition to the ninety (90) minutes of uninterrupted daily reading instruction provided under Tier I.” Additionally, the state dyslexia  handbook promotes evidence-based, structured literacy interventions in an RTI/MTSS framework that include explicit instruction.