HB5032 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 22552 CMG 31693 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB5032

Introduced 1/27/2022, by Rep. Rita Mayfield

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

See Index

Creates the Right to Read Act. Provides that the State Board of Education shall offer support: to each public school district to select evidence-based core reading instruction programs and implement them using structured literacy instruction; and to each early childhood, elementary, and special education teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach, and administrator to complete evidence-based training in teaching reading. Requires the State Board of Education to annually compile and post on its website information on the steps it has undertaken to support school districts to deliver high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction, including a list of any Early Literacy Grant recipients, documentation of how the recipient allocated the funding to support improved literacy, and what evidence-based literacy curricula the recipient is utilizing. Amends the School Code. In provisions concerning educator testing, requires applicants seeking specified licenses to pass a test in reading foundations, which shall include assessment of the applicant's understanding of phonological and phonemic awareness, concepts of print and the alphabetic principle, the role of phonics in promoting reading development, word analysis skills and strategies, vocabulary development, application of reading comprehension skills and strategies, and methods for assessing reading development. In provisions concerning minimum requirements for educators trained in other states or countries, provides that an applicant who has successfully completed a reading foundations test of at least comparable rigor to the Illinois reading foundations test is not required to complete a reading foundations test. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Right to Read Act.

Section 5. Legislative findings.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) the 2019 Illinois Assessment of Readiness found that, among 3rd grade students, just 37% met or exceeded learning standards in English language arts;

(2) the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress similarly showed that just 35% of fourth grade students in Illinois are proficient or advanced in English language arts;

(3) research from the Annie E. Casey Institute found that students who are not proficient readers in 3rd grade are 4 times more likely not to finish high school, while students from low-income families who are non-proficient readers in 3rd grade are more than 6 times more likely not to finish high school;

(4) the Literacy Project Foundation estimates that 60% of all prison inmates are illiterate and 85% of juvenile offenders struggle with reading;

(5) 20 states require elementary teacher candidates to pass a licensure test that is well-grounded in the science of reading and fully measures knowledge in reading foundations for all elementary candidates yet Illinois does not measure the competencies of the science of reading in the current licensure exam;

(6) the Simple View of Reading states that reading comprehension is the product of the words one can decode (word recognition) and the language one understands (language comprehension) and word recognition requires an understanding of phonics and phonological awareness, while language comprehension requires an understanding of background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, and verbal reasoning; and

(7) strengthening early literacy instruction and supports for students in Illinois will pay dividends in the future, empowering students by providing the skills they will need to graduate, find fulfilling careers, and be productive members of their communities and of our democracy.

(b) The General Assembly further finds that:

(1) reading is a critical skill that every child must develop early in the child's educational career to be successful;

(2) research shows that direct, systematic, cumulative, sequential, and explicit reading instruction that is focused on the foundational reading skills of phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency including oral skills, and reading comprehension is highly effective in teaching young children to read; and

(3) ensuring that every child has access to high-quality, evidence-based reading instruction implemented using a structured literacy approach is a foundational component of Illinois' public education system and a responsibility shared among federal, State, and local education agencies.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Board" means the State Board of Education.

"Cueing" means an instructional strategy in which students are encouraged to infer what words say by looking at picture clues or guessing or predicting words from repeated text patterns or context, rather than encouraging them to decode text as the primary method for recognizing a word while reading.

"Evidence-based practice" refers to methodologies that have been shown, through externally-validated research, to effectuate positive educational results in a predictable manner on a particular population. Evidence-based practices meet a higher standard of evidence than research-based practices.

"Explicit" refers to a specific, direct, intentional, and highly-structured manner of presentation in which topics are broken down into small parts and taught individually, involving direct demonstration, guidance, and practice.

"MTSS" means a multi-tiered system of support, which is an educational intervention system, focused on continuous-improvement using data-based problem solving and decision-making at all levels of the educational system.

"Phonemic awareness" means the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.

"Phonics" means a method that demonstrates relationships between letters or groups of letters of the alphabet (graphemes) and sounds of spoken language (phonemes).

"Phonological awareness" means the ability to identify and manipulate the spoken word parts, including syllables and individual sounds.

"Reading comprehension" means the ability to decode words in printed text and accurately understand and interpret their meaning, making connections and drawing conclusions from what they read.

"Reading fluency" means the ability to read with appropriate speed, automaticity, accuracy, and expression.

"Research-based practice" refers to methodologies suspected to affect a desired change. "Research-based practices" represent a lower standard of evidence when compared to evidence-based practices.

"Structured literacy" is an approach to reading instruction where teachers carefully structure important literacy skills, concepts, and the sequence of instruction, to facilitate children's literacy learning and progress. "Structured literacy" is characterized by the provision of systematic, explicit instruction that integrates listening, speaking, reading, and writing and emphasizes the structure of language across the speech sound system (phonology), the writing system (orthography), the structure of sentences (syntax), the meaningful parts of words (morphology), the relationships among words (semantics), and the organization of spoken and written discourse.

"Systematic" means an approach to content delivery that builds sequentially upon prior learning in a strategic manner, that is, building from simple to complex.

Section 15. Local education provider procedures, plan, and training.

(a) The Board shall offer support to each public school district to select evidence-based core reading instruction programs and implement them using structured literacy instruction. The curricula shall include phonemic awareness, a systematic approach to phonics, explicit spelling instruction, vocabulary development, reading fluency including oral skills, and reading comprehension. Word recognition strategies shall rely on orthographic and phonological processes rather than cueing. The core reading instruction must include connected text, such as texts intended to reinforce words with the phonetic patterns previously taught in sequence. This support shall include:

(1) creation of a specific set of criteria that core curricula must meet, as well as a list of evidence-based literacy core curricula based on the given criteria, with dissemination of the list to school districts by February 1, 2023; and

(2) establishment of a pilot program to award Early Literacy Grants to districts that commit to comprehensive reform of core literacy curriculum and support for teachers implementing instruction of the new material by September 1, 2025. At a minimum, grantees of the program must commit to:

(A) comprehensive professional development ensuring that each teacher employed to teach kindergarten or any of grades 1 through 3 and each administrator in an elementary school successfully completes or has successfully completed evidence-based training in teaching reading; and

(B) adoption and implementation of core and supplemental reading curricula at each grade level from kindergarten through grade 2 that is designed around teaching the foundational reading skills.

(b) The Board shall offer support to each early childhood, elementary, and special education teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach, and administrator to complete evidence-based training in teaching reading. Such training shall focus on systematic and explicit instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, orthography, morphology, vocabulary development, reading fluency including oral skills, and reading comprehension and include rigorous evaluations of learning throughout and at the end of the course. This support may include:

(1) development of a microcredential in the Science of Reading to be affixed to professional educator licenses upon completion of the required coursework, assessment, or both;

(2) creation of an advisory list of rigorous professional development programs related to structured literacy and dissemination of the list to school districts and regional offices of education;

(3) evaluation of current, pending, and future professional development providers approved by the Board pursuant to Section xx to ensure that training aligns with evidence-based literacy instruction practices;

(4) completion of a review of current professional development mandates required by federal or state law or administrative rules and recommendations of requirements that could be streamlined, eliminated, or modified to accommodate more time for professional development in literacy; and

(5) development of online training modules on evidence-based literacy instruction available statewide to districts and educators free of charge through December 31, 2026 and accepted for continuing professional development units.

(c) The Board shall annually compile and post on its website information on the steps it has undertaken to support school districts to deliver high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction, including a list of any Early Literacy Grant recipients, documentation of how the recipient allocated the funding to support improved literacy, and what evidence-based literacy curricula the recipient is utilizing.

Section 20. The School Code is amended by changing Sections 21B-30 and 21B-35 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/21B-30)

Sec. 21B-30. Educator testing.

(a) (Blank).

(b) The State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board, shall design and implement a system of examinations, which shall be required prior to the issuance of educator licenses. These examinations and indicators must be based on national and State professional teaching standards, as determined by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board. The State Board of Education may adopt such rules as may be necessary to implement and administer this Section.

(c) (Blank).

(c-5) The State Board must adopt rules to implement a paraprofessional competency test. This test would allow an applicant seeking an Educator License with Stipulations with a paraprofessional educator endorsement to obtain the endorsement if he or she passes the test and meets the other requirements of subparagraph (J) of paragraph (2) of Section 21B-20 other than the higher education requirements.

(d) All applicants seeking a State license shall be required to pass a test of content area knowledge for each area of endorsement for which there is an applicable test. There shall be no exception to this requirement. No candidate shall be allowed to student teach or serve as the teacher of record until he or she has passed the applicable content area test.

(d-5) All applicants seeking a State license in the areas of early childhood education, early childhood special education, elementary education, English language arts, middle grades language arts, reading specialist, reading teacher, special education, speech language pathologist, and English language learner teacher shall be required to pass a test in reading foundations, which shall include assessment of the applicant's understanding of phonological and phonemic awareness, concepts of print and the alphabetic principle, the role of phonics in promoting reading development, word analysis skills and strategies, vocabulary development, application of reading comprehension skills and strategies, and methods for assessing reading development. The reading foundations test must also assess applicants' knowledge of assessment, differentiation, and intervention with respect to each component of reading for English learners, students with special needs, and students with advanced skills in some areas of reading. There shall be no exception to this requirement. No candidate shall be allowed to student teach or serve as the teacher of record until he or she has passed the applicable content area test

(e) (Blank).

(f) Except as otherwise provided in this Article, beginning on September 1, 2015, all candidates completing teacher preparation programs in this State and all candidates subject to Section 21B-35 of this Code are required to pass a teacher performance assessment approved by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board. A candidate may not be required to submit test materials by video submission. Subject to appropriation, an individual who holds a Professional Educator License and is employed for a minimum of one school year by a school district designated as Tier 1 under Section 18-8.15 may, after application to the State Board, receive from the State Board a refund for any costs associated with completing the teacher performance assessment under this subsection.

(g) The content area knowledge test and the teacher performance assessment shall be the tests that from time to time are designated by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board, and may be tests prepared by an educational testing organization or tests designed by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board. The test of content area knowledge shall assess content knowledge in a specific subject field. The tests must be designed to be racially neutral to ensure that no person taking the tests is discriminated against on the basis of race, color, national origin, or other factors unrelated to the person's ability to perform as a licensed employee. The score required to pass the tests shall be fixed by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board. The tests shall be administered not fewer than 3 times a year at such time and place as may be designated by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board.

The State Board shall implement a test or tests to assess the speaking, reading, writing, and grammar skills of applicants for an endorsement or a license issued under subdivision (G) of paragraph (2) of Section 21B-20 of this Code in the English language and in the language of the transitional bilingual education program requested by the applicant.

(h) Except as provided in Section 34-6 of this Code, the provisions of this Section shall apply equally in any school district subject to Article 34 of this Code.

(i) The rules developed to implement and enforce the testing requirements under this Section shall include without limitation provisions governing test selection, test validation and determination of a passing score for all tests except the reading foundations test, administration of the tests, frequency of administration, applicant fees, frequency of applicants taking the tests, the years for which a score is valid, and appropriate special accommodations. The State Board of Education shall develop such rules as may be needed to ensure uniformity from year to year in the level of difficulty for each form of an assessment. The State Board shall base its rules concerning the passing score of the reading foundations test upon the results of a formal standard-setting process.

(Source: P.A. 101-81, eff. 7-12-19; 101-220, eff. 8-7-19; 101-594, eff. 12-5-19; 102-301, eff. 8-26-21.)

(105 ILCS 5/21B-35)

Sec. 21B-35. Minimum requirements for educators trained in other states or countries.

(a) Any applicant who has not been entitled by an Illinois-approved educator preparation program at an Illinois institution of higher education applying for a Professional Educator License endorsed in a teaching field or school support personnel area must meet the following requirements:

(1) the applicant must:

(A) hold a comparable and valid educator license or certificate, as defined by rule, with similar grade level, reading foundations, and content area credentials from another state, with the State Board of Education having the authority to determine what constitutes similar grade level and content area credentials from another state;

(B) have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education; and

(C) (blank); or

(2) the applicant must:

(A) have completed a state-approved program for the licensure area sought, including coursework concerning methods of instruction of the exceptional child, methods of reading and reading in the content area, and instructional strategies for English learners;

(B) have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education;

(C) have successfully met all Illinois examination requirements, except that:

(i) (blank);

(ii) an applicant who has successfully completed a test of content, as defined by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another state is not required to complete a test of content; and

(iii) an applicant for a teaching endorsement who has successfully completed an evidence-based assessment of teacher effectiveness, as defined by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another state is not required to complete an evidence-based assessment of teacher effectiveness; and

(iv) an applicant who has successfully completed a reading foundations test of at least comparable rigor to the Illinois reading foundations test is not required to complete a reading foundations test; and

(D) for an applicant for a teaching endorsement, have completed student teaching or an equivalent experience or, for an applicant for a school service personnel endorsement, have completed an internship or an equivalent experience.

(b) In order to receive a Professional Educator License endorsed in a teaching field or school support personnel area, applicants trained in another country must meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Have completed a comparable education program in another country.

(2) Have had transcripts evaluated by an evaluation service approved by the State Superintendent of Education.

(3) Have a degree comparable to a degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

(4) Have completed coursework aligned to standards concerning methods of instruction of the exceptional child, methods of reading and reading in the content area, and instructional strategies for English learners.

(5) (Blank).

(6) (Blank).

(7) Have successfully met all State licensure examination requirements. Applicants who have successfully completed a test of content, as defined by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another country shall not be required to complete a test of content. Applicants for a teaching endorsement who have successfully completed an evidence-based assessment of teacher effectiveness, as defined by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another country shall not be required to complete an evidence-based assessment of teacher effectiveness. Applicants who have successfully completed a reading foundations test of at least comparable rigor to the Illinois reading foundations test shall not be required to complete a reading foundations test.

(8) Have completed student teaching or an equivalent experience.

(9) (Blank).

(b-5) All applicants who have not been entitled by an Illinois-approved educator preparation program at an Illinois institution of higher education and applicants trained in another country applying for a Professional Educator License endorsed for principal or superintendent must hold a master's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education and hold a comparable and valid educator license or certificate with similar grade level and subject matter credentials, with the State Board of Education having the authority to determine what constitutes similar grade level and subject matter credentials from another state, or must meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Have completed an educator preparation program approved by another state or comparable educator program in another country leading to the receipt of a license or certificate for the Illinois endorsement sought.

(2) Have successfully met all State licensure examination requirements, as required by Section 21B-30 of this Code. Applicants who have successfully completed a test of content, as defined by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another state or country shall not be required to complete a test of content.

(2.5) Have completed an internship, as defined by rule.

(3) (Blank).

(4) Have completed coursework aligned to standards concerning methods of instruction of the exceptional child, methods of reading and reading in the content area, and instructional strategies for English learners.

(4.5) (Blank).

(5) Have completed a master's degree.

(6) Have successfully completed teaching, school support, or administrative experience as defined by rule.

(b-7) All applicants who have not been entitled by an Illinois-approved educator preparation program at an Illinois institution of higher education applying for a Professional Educator License endorsed for Director of Special Education must hold a master's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education and must hold a comparable and valid educator license or certificate with similar grade level and subject matter credentials, with the State Board of Education having the authority to determine what constitutes similar grade level and subject matter credentials from another state, or must meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Have completed a master's degree.

(2) Have 2 years of full-time experience providing special education services.

(3) Have successfully completed all examination requirements, as required by Section 21B-30 of this Code. Applicants who have successfully completed a test of content, as identified by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another state or country shall not be required to complete a test of content.

(4) Have completed coursework aligned to standards concerning methods of instruction of the exceptional child, methods of reading and reading in the content area, and instructional strategies for English learners.

(b-10) All applicants who have not been entitled by an Illinois-approved educator preparation program at an Illinois institution of higher education applying for a Professional Educator License endorsed for chief school business official must hold a master's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education and must hold a comparable and valid educator license or certificate with similar grade level and subject matter credentials, with the State Board of Education having the authority to determine what constitutes similar grade level and subject matter credentials from another state, or must meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Have completed a master's degree in school business management, finance, or accounting.

(2) Have successfully completed an internship in school business management or have 2 years of experience as a school business administrator.

(3) Have successfully met all State examination requirements, as required by Section 21B-30 of this Code. Applicants who have successfully completed a test of content, as identified by rules, at the time of initial licensure in another state or country shall not be required to complete a test of content.

(4) Have completed modules aligned to standards concerning methods of instruction of the exceptional child, methods of reading and reading in the content area, and instructional strategies for English learners.

(c) The State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board, may adopt such rules as may be necessary to implement this Section.

(Source: P.A. 101-220, eff. 8-7-19; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-539, eff. 8-20-21.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.