HB1124ham001 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Michelle Mussman

Filed: 3/6/2023

10300HB1124ham001 LRB103 05755 RJT 58441 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1124

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1124 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section 2-3.161 and by adding Sections 10-20.85 and 34-18.82 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/2-3.161)

Sec. 2-3.161. Definition of dyslexia; reading instruction advisory group; handbook; screening rules; employment of specialists.

(a) In this Section, "universal screener" means a screener used to aid educators in understanding the causes for student performance, learning strengths, and the needs that underlie student performance. The screener is conducted to identify or predict which students may be at risk for poor learning outcomes and is typically brief and conducted with all students at a particular grade level.

(a-5) The State Board of Education shall incorporate, in both general education and special education, the following definition of dyslexia:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

(b) (Blank).

(c) The State Board of Education shall develop and maintain a handbook to be made available on its Internet website that provides guidance for pupils, parents or guardians, and teachers on the subject of dyslexia. The handbook shall include, but is not limited to:

(1) guidelines for teachers and parents or guardians on how to identify signs of dyslexia;

(2) a description of educational strategies that have been shown to improve the academic performance of pupils with dyslexia; and

(3) a description of resources and services available to pupils with dyslexia, parents or guardians of pupils with dyslexia, and teachers; and .

(4) guidelines on the administration of a universal screener and secondary reviews, the interpretation of data from these screeners and reviews, and the resulting appropriate instruction under Section 10-20.85 or 34-18.82 within a multi-tiered system of support framework.

The State Board shall review the handbook on or before January 1, 2024 and at least once every 4 years to update, if necessary, the guidelines, educational strategies, or resources and services made available in the handbook.

(d) The State Board of Education shall adopt any rules necessary to ensure that a student will be screened, as provided under Section 10-20.85 or 34-18.82, for the risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, using a universal screener. A student shall be screened:

(1) if a student is enrolled in a public school in any of grades kindergarten through 2;

(2) if a student in any of the grades kindergarten through 2:

(A) transfers to a new public school; and

(B) has not been screened previously during the school year;

(3) if a teacher, parent, or guardian of a student in grade 3 or higher requests the student be screened for risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, using a universal screener; and

(4) if a student from another state enrolls for the first time in any of grades kindergarten through 2 in a school district in this State provided that if a student's score is below 3.0 on either the listening or the speaking portion of the ACCESS for ELLs assessment, the student may be exempt from a universal screener as determined by the school's or school district's English language learner team.

(e) The universal screener must include, as developmentally appropriate, all of the following:

(1) phonological and phonemic awareness;

(2) sound symbol recognition;

(3) alphabet knowledge;

(4) decoding skills;

(5) rapid naming skills;

(6) encoding skills; and

(7) oral reading fluency.

(f) No later than January 1, 2024, the State Board of Education shall employ at least 5 dyslexia specialists or dyslexia therapists with a minimum of 5 years of field experience in screening, identifying, and treating dyslexia and related disorders to provide both of the following:

(1) technical assistance for dyslexia and related disorders to the State Board of Education and school districts; and

(2) training to school district employees in:

(A) administering a universal screener and secondary review;

(B) analyzing and interpreting screening and secondary review data; and

(C) determining, within the multi-tiered system of support framework, appropriate intervention services in accordance with Sections 10-20.85 and 34-18.82.

(g) The State Board of Education shall adopt any rules necessary to ensure that a student receives intervention under Section 10-20.85 or 34-18.82.

(Source: P.A. 102-539, eff. 8-20-21.)

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.85 new)

Sec. 10-20.85. Dyslexia screening and support.

(a) In this Section:

"Secondary review" means a process, as determined by a school district, for gathering additional information to determine if risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, are present.

"Universal screener" means a screener used to aid educators in understanding the causes for student performance, learning strengths, and the needs that underlie student performance. The screener is conducted to identify or predict which students may be at risk for poor learning outcomes and is typically brief and conducted with all students at a particular grade level.

(b) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, each school district must screen students, no less than once each school year, in grades kindergarten through 2 for risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia using a universal screener approved by the State Board of Education.

(c) If a universal screener administered under subsection (b) indicates that a student is at risk or at some risk for dyslexia reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the school district must conduct a secondary review of the student. Through the secondary review, the school district must gather additional information to determine if the student has risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia. The additional information may include, but is not limited to, information from progress monitoring data, work samples, additional age and grade appropriate literacy assessments, teacher questionnaires, parent interviews, information regarding the student's family history related to dyslexia, and speech and language assessments. For any student who is an English language learner, the school's or school district's English language learner team must be included in the secondary review of the student.

(d) If the secondary review indicates that a student has some risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the school must use a multi-tiered system of support framework to address the needs of the student.

(e) If a student's secondary review indicates that a student has risk factors of reading difficulties, the school district must notify the student's parent or guardian.

(f) If a student's secondary review indicates that the student has risk factors for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the intervention provided to the student must utilize a structured literacy approach as outlined in the State Board of Education's handbook under subsection (c) of Section 2-3.161. The intervention must:

(1) provide explicit, direct, systematic, sequential, and cumulative instruction that adheres to a logical plan about the alphabetic principle and is designed to accommodate the needs of each individual student without presuming prior skills or knowledge;

(2) implement evidence-based practices that have been proven effective in the treatment of dyslexia;

(3) engage the student in multi-modal language learning techniques;

(4) include phonemic awareness activities to enable the student to detect, segment, blend, and manipulate sounds in the spoken language;

(5) provide graphophonemic knowledge for teaching the letter sound plan of the English language;

(6) teach the structure and patterns of the English language, including linguistic instruction in morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics, that are directed toward proficiency and fluency with the patterns of language so that words and sentences are the carriers of meaning;

(7) develop strategies that advance the student's ability in decoding, encoding, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension; and

(8) provide meaning-based instruction directed at purposeful reading and writing, with an emphasis on comprehension and composition.

(g) On or before July 1, 2024 and on or before each July 1 thereafter, each school district must report to the State Board of Education the universal screener and intervention that were used during the previous school year under this Section.

The State Board of Education shall publish the information collected from the report on its Internet website.

(105 ILCS 5/34-18.82 new)

Sec. 34-18.82. Dyslexia screening and support.

(a) In this Section:

"Secondary review" means a process, as determined by the school district, for gathering additional information to determine if risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, are present.

"Universal screener" means a screener used to aid educators in understanding the causes for student performance, learning strengths, and the needs that underlie student performance. The screener is conducted to identify or predict which students may be at risk for poor learning outcomes and is typically brief and conducted with all students at a particular grade level.

(b) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, the school district must screen, no less than annually each school year, students in grades kindergarten through 2 for risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, using a universal screener approved by the State Board of Education.

(c) If a universal screener administered under subsection (b) indicates that a student is at risk or at some risk for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the school district must conduct a secondary review of the student. Through the secondary review, the school district must gather additional information to determine if the student has risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia. The additional information may include, but is not limited to, information from progress monitoring data, work samples, additional age and grade appropriate literacy assessments, teacher questionnaires, parent interviews, information regarding the student's family history related to dyslexia, and speech and language assessments. For any student who is an English language learner, the school's or school district's English language learner team must be included in the secondary review of the student.

(d) If the secondary review indicates that a student has some risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the school must use a multi-tiered system of support framework to address the needs of the student.

(e) If a student's secondary review indicates that a student has risk factors of reading difficulties, the school district must notify the student's parent or guardian.

(f) If a student's secondary review indicates that the student has risk factors of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, the intervention provided to the student must utilize a structured literacy approach as outlined in the State Board of Education's handbook under subsection (c) of Section 2-3.161. The intervention must:

(1) provide explicit, direct, systematic, sequential, and cumulative instruction that adheres to a logical plan about the alphabetic principle and is designed to accommodate the needs of each individual student without presuming prior skills or knowledge;

(2) implement evidence-based practices that have been proven effective in the treatment of dyslexia;

(3) engage the student in multi-modal language learning techniques;

(4) include phonemic awareness activities to enable the student to detect, segment, blend, and manipulate sounds in the spoken language;

(5) provide graphophonemic knowledge for teaching the letter sound plan of the English language;

(6) teach the structure and patterns of the English language, including linguistic instruction in morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics, that are directed toward proficiency and fluency with the patterns of language so that words and sentences are the carriers of meaning;

(7) develop strategies that advance the student's ability in decoding, encoding, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension; and

(8) provide meaning-based instruction directed at purposeful reading and writing, with an emphasis on comprehension and composition.

(g) On or before July 1, 2024 and on or before each July 1 thereafter, the school district must report to the State Board of Education the universal screener and the intervention that were used during the previous school year under this Section.

The State Board of Education shall publish the information collected from the report on its Internet website.".