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2020 SESSION

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HB 332 Reading diagnostic tests; DOE to develop and implement a pilot program.

Introduced by: Patrick A. Hope | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE:

Department of Education; pilot program; reading diagnostic tests and instruction. Requires the Department of Education to develop and implement a geographically representative two-year pilot program to administer reading diagnostic tests that include all components of a normed rapid automatized naming test. The bill requires each local school division in the pilot program to provide evidence-based instruction, including structured literacy instruction, to students in kindergarten through grade three who fall below the benchmark on any such reading diagnostic test or demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading test. The bill requires the Department of Education to report to the Governor and General Assembly, no later than December 1, 2022, on the outcomes of the pilot program and the necessary resources for statewide implementation of such tests and instruction.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Reading diagnostic tests; intervention. Requires each student in kindergarten and grade one to participate in reading diagnostic tests that include a rapid automatized naming test and one or more rapid alternating stimulus tests as follows: (i) for students in kindergarten, a rapid automatized naming test and a rapid alternating stimulus test that each include colors and objects and (ii) for students in grade one, a rapid automatized naming test and two rapid alternating stimulus tests that each include colors, objects, letters, and numbers. The bill requires any student who enrolls in a public elementary school in the Commonwealth for the first time in grade two or grade three to participate in the reading diagnostic tests required for students in grade one. The bill specifies that such diagnostic tests shall consist of the RAN/RAS tests developed and published by Maryanne Wolf and Martha Bridge Denckla or a substantially similar reading diagnostic tool that is evidence-based, normed, and approved by the Department of Education. The bill requires, beginning July 1, 2021, each local school division to provide evidence-based, structured literacy instruction to students in kindergarten through grade three who fall below the benchmark on any such reading diagnostic test and requires that such structured literacy instruction be overseen and monitored by the local school division's advisor on dyslexia and related disorders, when applicable.