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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
schools; dyslexia; literacy; appropriations
Purpose
Requires the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for an Early Literacy Assessment Tool (Assessment Tool) for eligible schools. Modifies implementation timelines and appropriates $4,000,000 from the state General Fund (GF) in FY 2021 to support enhanced pupil screening and teacher professional development.
Background
Dyslexia is a condition of neurological origin that is characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities (A.R.S. § 15-701). ADE develops and maintains the Dyslexia Handbook to provide pupils, parents and teachers guidance on the identification of dyslexia, strategies to improve academic performance and available resources and services (Dyslexia Handbook).
Statute directs ADE to develop a dyslexia screening plan by July 1, 2020, that ensures each student in kindergarten or grade one in an Arizona public school is screened for indicators of dyslexia, provides guidance for parental notification and is developed collaboratively with the ADE‑designated dyslexia specialist and other experts. Screening for indicators of dyslexia is based on: 1) phonological and phonemic awareness; 2) rapid naming skills; 3) correspondence between sounds and letters; 4) nonsense word repetition; and 5) sound symbol recognition (A.R.S. § 15-704).
A dyslexia specialist must be designated by ADE to provide school districts and charter schools with support and resources to assist students with dyslexia. By July 1, 2021, at least one kindergarten through grade three (K-3) teacher at each district and charter school must receive training related to dyslexia (A.R.S. § 15-211).
S.B. 1544 appropriates $4,000,000 in FY 2021 from the state GF to ADE for dyslexia and literacy services.
Provisions
Dyslexia Screening Plan and Implementation
1. Delays, from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, the requirement for ADE to develop a dyslexia screening plan.
2. Includes nonsense word fluency, instead of nonsense word repetition, in the prescribed screening indicators for dyslexia.
3. Delays, from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, the requirement for each school district and charter school to ensure that at least one K-3 teacher receives dyslexia training at each school.
Assessment Tool
4. Requires ADE, before October 1, 2020, to issue a RFP to purchase an assessment tool to allow teachers to obtain real-time assessments of the reading skill levels of K-3 students and to generate intervention plans and materials, based on those results.
5. Requires the RFP, at a minimum, to include all of the following:
a) software that does all of the following:
i. provides individualized assessments with immediate results;
ii. stores and analyzes assessment results, recommends activities aligned with those results and assists in tracking and identifying strategies to improve student performance;
iii. provides student grouping recommendations based on assessment scores and provides proposed lesson plans on a short-term cycle; and
iv. assists in generating and populating individualized plans to improve students' reading skills;
b) user training for teachers and other personnel selected by each local education provider (education provider); and
c) a sufficient number of software licenses for each Arizona education provider to use the assessment tool in all K-3 classes.
Contract Terms
6. Allows ADE to draft the contract to phase in the software licenses over multiple budget years, based on available appropriations.
7. Requires ADE, by March 1, 2021, to select from the responses received and enter into a contract to purchase software licenses and training.
8. Requires ADE to negotiate a contract to include performance measures which can address student outcomes as conditions affecting the amounts payable in the contract.
9. Requires ADE, as soon as practicable after entering into the contract, to notify the education providers and provide the following information:
a) the purchased software licenses;
b) the availability of user training, including dates, times and locations; and
c) the application procedures and timelines for each education provider to receive the software licenses and training to implement the assessment tool.
10. Requires ADE to select the education providers to receive the assessment tool and training prescribed by ADE based on available appropriations and the following considerations:
a) select education providers from various Arizona regions and student population size;
b) give preference to education providers with the highest percentages of students in K-3 who are below program or grade-level reading expectations; and
c) give preference to education providers with the highest percentages of schools that are eligible to receive monies under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
11. Allows ADE to limit the assessment tool to schools of a selected school district that are eligible to receive monies under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
12. Specifies an education provider selected in one budget year to receive the assessment tool is not required to reapply in subsequent budget years.
13. Requires ADE, to the extent possible within available appropriations, to annually increase the number of education providers that receive the assessment tool.
Reporting Requirements
14. Requires ADE, by September 1, 2022, and September 1, 2024, to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairpersons of the Senate and the House of Representatives Education Committees, or their successor committees, and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with a copy provided to the Secretary of State.
15. Requires the report to include all of the following:
a) the percentage of Arizona K-3 students who are receiving services using the assessment tool;
b) the number of education providers that received the assessment tool;
c) the improvements, if any, in the reading skill levels of students who received or are receiving services using the assessment tool; and
d) the appropriation amounts required to purchase an adequate number of software licenses to enable Arizona education providers to use the assessment tool in all Arizona K-3 classes.
Appropriations
16. Appropriates $2,000,000 and three full-time equivalent positions from the state GF in FY 2021 to ADE for the following purposes:
a) designating a dyslexia specialist for ADE to provide school districts and charter schools with support and resources as prescribed for K-3 reading programs and dyslexia training;
b) developing a list of training opportunities related to dyslexia;
c) developing a required dyslexia screening plan;
d) providing early literacy professional development to Arizona teachers;
e) improving the reading proficiency of K-3 pupils, including administering the K-3 reading program; and
f) gathering, aggregating and analyzing statewide data for early literacy and dyslexia.
17. Appropriates $2,000,000 from the state GF in FY 2021 to ADE for distribution to school districts and charter schools for:
a) providing additional funding to support pupils with language-based learning struggles, including dyslexia;
b) enhancing professional development and expanding teacher training opportunities;
c) improving screening measures and intervention materials; and
d) providing intensive instruction for pupils who meet the following criteria:
i. are eligible for special education as a pupil with a specific learning disability in reading or writing, or both;
ii. have a Section 504 Plan;
iii. have a documented diagnosis of dyslexia; or
iv. are eligible for tier two or tier three services under the multitiered system of support.
Miscellaneous
18. Defines local education provider as a district or a charter school that enrolls students in kindergarten programs and first, second and third grades.
19. Repeals the guidelines for the assessment tool on January 1, 2026.
20. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 14, 2020
JO/gs