On January 31, 2020, Delegate Eric Luedtke and Senator Katie Fry Hester introduced HB 718 and SB 575, the Reading and Dyslexia Handbook bills.   Maryland’s 2017 Legislative Dyslexia Task Force Report includes a recommendation to create a Dyslexia Handbook as a result of the findings from the Dyslexia Task Force.  The Task Force found that administrators, educators, and parents would benefit from a resource on dyslexia that is electronically accessible to all (p. 52).  The Recommendation says:​

“This Handbook should reflect the neurobiological and operational definition of dyslexia provided in the dyslexia Technical Assistance Bulletin and mirrored in this document, and should include evidence-based practice guidelines for identification, assessment, and intervention, service delivery model(s), and progress monitoring strategies and tools. This is a legislative opportunity to establish and fund a Working Group or Dyslexia Advisory Committee to develop the handbook using the Best Practices document presented by the Task Force.”

The Maryland Ready to Read Act (2019, SB 734, Ch. 512), originally included language to create a Dyslexia Handbook.  The final bill did not include the handbook language in order to shorten and tighten the bill. The recommendation to create a Dyslexia Handbook is an inexpensive means to provide supplemental information to Maryland’s 24 local control districts so they have access to the best practices to identify and address dyslexia in Maryland. Why MD Needs a Reading & ​Dyslexia Handbook Creates a stakeholder advisory group of educators & dyslexia community members to collaborate on a Reading & Dyslexia Handbook. Provides guidance for general & special educators, and families on best practices to identify & remediate students with dyslexia and reading difficulties. Develops a definitive, publicly available resource for educators and families on reading and writing assessment, instruction, intervention and accommodations for use in the classroom and in the home; Designates a dyslexia point of contact within the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE); and Enumerates evidence-based instruction, interventions, professional learning and assessment/screening tools. Dyslexia Handbook ToolKit HANDBOOK Talking Points State Handbooks 2020 Legislative Priorities Advocacy Toolkit

hb0718f.pdf File Size: 111 kb File Type: pdf Download File Status of Dyslexia ​Handbook Bills Other State Reading/Dyslexia Handbooks   23 States have handbooks (AR, CA, MO, TX) 14 were legislated while others were the result of a collaborative working group, task force and/or resolution by a Governor or State Board of Education. Why Legislation? To ensure specific content and periodic updates are included; To set deadlines for release and sharing of information; To ensure all stakeholders have access to best practices; To ensure participation by stakeholders; and​.

National Organizations Begin to "Say Dyslexia"

Lack of Prevention & Effective Intervention Severely Impacts Vulnerable Students

Maryland PARCC data from 2018 shows 75% of fourth grade students living in poverty were below grade level in reading and 72% of African American students were below grade level.  Poverty, race and disability status do not prevent students from learning to read: poorly chosen curricula, lack of reading screening, poorly designed and targeted professional development, insufficient and inadequate educator preparation programs & lack of knowledge about the science of reading contribute to poor reading outcomes for vulnerable populations.

"Research indicates that student demographic characteristics are related to the probability of needing remedial coursework in college. In a nationally representative sample, African American students were more likely to take remedial coursework when compared to White students, even after controlling for academic preparation, family socio-economic status (SES), and type of high school and college attended (Attewell et al., 2006)."  Link to report, MD Longitudinal Data System

Reading Screening: Part of the Solution to Close Gaps
Amended Version, Senate Bill 734

Why We Must Screen Students for Reading Difficulties

SB 734 enables districts to accurately and consistently apply screening measures to determine which students may struggle to read. This is done by measuring students' pre-and-early literacy skills that evidence shows are predictive of future reading success.  When school districts wait until a student shows indicators of difficulty, this creates a paradox: reading skills are best developed and addressed in PK, K and 1 -- by waiting for a student to fail to respond to instruction and/or intervention schools are delaying help.  This is the current practice and is not working.

Senate Amendments to SB 734

The Senate amendments scale back screening to include Kindergarten students only.  Summary of Senate Amendments:  Amended Version of Ready To Read, SB 734 DEFINITIONS, (Section A): Screening is defined as a brief, valid, and reliable measurement procedure used to identify or predict whether a student may be at risk for poor learning outcomes. Other definitions include supplemental reading instruction, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, phonological awareness, student.   DELETED: or amended: informal diagnostic assessment, progress monitoring and amended definition of student. WHO IS SCREENED: (Section A(7)): Student is amended and defined as: any student in Kindergarten; First grade is screened only if the student was not screened in or demonstrated difficulty mastering grade level reading in K. Students who enter or transfer to an elementary school from an elementary school, are screened unless a county board determines the student has already been screened and does not demonstrate difficulty mastering grade-level reading. EFFECTIVE DATE: (Section B)(1)) Beginning in 2020-2021 School year, each county board shall ensure that a student is screened to identify if the student is at risk for reading difficulties. PARENT NOTIFICATION: Section (B)(3) description of the screening and supplemental instruction process in the districts; and any checklists or forms needed to support the screening protocol. REQUIREMENT FOR SCREENING:  (Section C(1)): A county board shall select one or more appropriate screening instruments that: accurately and reliably identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes; are developmentally appropriate; are economical to administer in time and cost; and use norm-referenced or criterion-based scores. WHAT IS SCREENED: Section C(2): Schools must screen all K students for risks of reading difficulties in the following areas beginning in the 20-21 school year: phonemic and phonological awareness and processing; DELETED: knowledge of letter names and letter sounds rapid automatized naming PK, Grade 1 and students in 2+ if concerns are noted. Grade one skills included phonological and phonemic awareness and processing, knowledge of letter names and letter sound associations for uppercase and lowercase letters, normed rapid automatized naming, automatic and fluent single word recognition and oral reading fluency.​

SCREENING FREQUENCY: Section D(1) Student shall be screened according to the schedule established by the county board; SUPPLEMENTAL READING INSTRUCTION.  Section (D)(2): If the screening results indicate that a student is at risk of reading difficulties, the county board shall provide supplemental reading instruction in the students’ areas of need.   Supplemental reading instruction is defined (p. 4, line 25…there is a typo to be fixed) PARENT NOTIFICATION: Section (D)(2) Provide a notification letter to the parent or guardian of the student that includes: The screening results; and  A description of the supplemental reading instruction that will be provided to the student. RESOURCES (Section E): Each county board shall provide resources on the school district website that include: Reading screening instruments used in the school district; and A checklist of early warning signs of reading difficulty/dyslexia by age. REPORTING (Section F). On or before September 1 each year, beginning in 2020-2021 school year: each district shall report: # students in each grade,  # students in each grade screened,  # students at risk on screening instrument; # students who received supplemental reading help,  data must be disaggregated and searchable by district and posted on the state website TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: (Section G): On or before June 1, 2020, MSDE will write regulations with advocates and other interested stakeholders, to implement: training annually for individuals who conduct screening, including administrators, on the administration and interpretation of assessments and data; best practices to design and implement supplemental reading instruction, and the elements, principles and best practices of supplemental reading instruction. Section 2: It is the intent of the GA that money appropriated in accordance with The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, Chapter xx, SB 1030 of 2019, shall be used to offset the cost of implementation of Section I of this act. How did your Senator vote on SB 734?

How Much Does it Really Cost to Screen Students in Pk, K and 1?

What are the Skills that Predict Future Reading Success?

Are the Predictive Skills Considered "Screening Instruments"?

When Should Students be Screened?

Reading Screening Measures must be Brief, Cost Effective, Valid, Reliable, Predictive

Are Any Maryland School Districts Screening?
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Pockets of Promise

No Statutory Protections for Dyslexia

See https://improvingliteracy.org/state-of-dyslexia/maryland

What Do the Experts Say About Reading Screening?

Ready to Read Act, Resources

Who Supports the Ready to Read bills?

“We want to move from a deficit-model to a preventive model.” 
Dr. Nadine Gaab, Boston Children’s Hospital, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience

Delegate Eric Luedtke (D-Montgomery) and Senator Craig Zucker (D-Montgomery) are set to introduce the Ready to Read Act of 2019 to the Maryland General Assembly in the next few weeks.  The bill will prevent reading difficulties in young children by screening students in PK, K and Grade 1 using predictive, short measures that tell an educator if the child is at risk for reading problems.  Why is this important?  Because students who fall behind in reading have a difficult time catching up to their peers. One question that is often asked about reading screening is "will it diagnose young children with a disability like dyslexia?"  Here's a response to that question along with an excellent analogy when thinking about screening  and the benefits for young children. Prevention is key and reading screening and early interventions are a critical part of a prevention framework. Reading screening is part of an integrated, tiered system of support that predicts and prevents reading difficulties (MD Technical Assistance Bulletin on Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, April 2018).

Diagnosing Vs Screening: What is the difference? From Spell Talk listserve, 1.16.2018 An interesting question was posed recently on a listserve with members who work in classrooms and universities across the country.  The question, paraphrased was, "will screening kids for reading difficulties mean they are now diagnosed with dyslexia or a disability?"  Dr. Nadine Gaab responded to this question with an excellent medical model for prevention saying: "The general idea here is not to diagnose children in preschool but to identify children at-risk to develop reading impairments (not just dyslexia). I often use an analogy from medicine for the argument: We are screening people for high cholesterol, which would be an increased risk to develop heart disease. We are not trying to diagnose people who present with high cholesterol with heart disease.    If someone has high cholesterol and therefore is at-risk to develop heart disease we then provide ‘evidence-based response to screening’ which, in this case, would be prescribed exercise, dietary changes, maybe medication. The goal here is to prevent heart disease and not to diagnose earlier. It is hoped that fewer people then end up with a diagnosis of heart disease or if they do, it will be less severe since they already changed their diet, started exercising, take medications, etc.    We want to move from a deficit-model to a preventive model. It's the same with reading impairments. We want to identify preschoolers at-risk but not diagnose them with a reading disability like dyslexia in preschool. Then you put great ‘evidence-based response to screening’ in place so that their risk to develop dyslexia decreases OR if they develop reading problems, it may be less severe since they already had remediation/intervention since preschool.”  Maryland's Kirwan Commission is planning to include reading screening in the recommendations because it's part of the prevention and intervention framework. The research behind predictive reading screening shows that screening serves the needs of students who may come to the classroom without the requisite knowledge to hit the ground running. If we can figure out what's going to happen before it happens, we can prevent the negative outcomes associated with reading struggles and low literacy. #soALLcanRead #ReadytoREAD ​