Chapter 112 |
2019 -- H 5887 SUBSTITUTE B Enacted 07/08/2019 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO EDUCATION - RHODE ISLAND CERTIFICATIONS STANDARDS BOARD [SEE TITLE 16 CHAPTER 97 - THE RHODE ISLAND BOARD OF EDUCATION ACT] |
Introduced By: Representatives O'Brien, Amore, Corvese, McEntee, and Morin |
Date Introduced: March 21, 2019 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Chapter 16-11.4 of the General Laws entitled "Rhode Island Certification |
Standards Board [See Title 16 Chapter 97 - The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby |
amended by adding thereto the following section: |
16-11.4-6. Right to read act. |
(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Right to Read Act". |
(b) No later than 2025, the following shall have proficient knowledge and skills to teach |
reading consistent with the best practices of scientific reading instruction and structured literacy |
instruction: |
(1) A person who completes a state-approved educator preparation program; and |
(2) A person seeking teacher licensure by reciprocity or by adding an endorsement. |
In addition, no later than 2025, a person who completes a state-approved educator |
preparation program, other than a teacher of elementary education program, shall demonstrate an |
awareness of the best practices of scientific reading instruction and structured literacy instruction. |
(d)(c) Beginning later than the 2024-2025 school year, each state-approved educator |
preparation program shall post on its website information describing its program to prepare |
teachers to teach reading with scientific reading instruction and structured literacy instruction; |
aligned with, but not limited to, the content measured by the stand-alone reading assessment |
adopted by the Rhode Island board of education act. |
(e)(d) Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, a public school district and an open- |
enrollment public charter school shall provide the following professional development in |
scientific reading instruction and structured literacy instruction: |
(1) For teachers licensed at the elementary level, professional development for one of the |
prescribed pathways to obtaining a proficiency credential in knowledge and practices in scientific |
reading instruction and structured literacy instruction; and |
(2) For teachers licensed at a level other than the elementary level, professional |
development for one of the prescribed pathways to obtaining an awareness credential in |
knowledge and practices in scientific reading instruction and structured literacy instruction. |
(f)(e) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, a public school that does not provide |
the professional development pursuant to the provisions of subsection (d) of this section shall: |
(1) Be placed on probationary status; and |
(3)(2) Provide notice to parents that the public school district has not met the |
requirements of this section. |
(g)(f) By the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year: |
(1) All teachers employed in a teaching position that requires an elementary education |
(K-6) license, or (K-12) license, shall demonstrate proficiency in knowledge and practices of |
scientific reading and structured literacy instruction; and |
(2) All other teachers shall demonstrate awareness in knowledge and practices of |
scientific reading instruction, and structured literacy instruction. |
(h)(g) All teachers who begin employment in the 2023-2024 school year and each school |
year thereafter shall demonstrate proficiency or awareness in knowledge and practices in |
scientific reading instruction and structured literacy instruction as is applicable to their teaching |
position by completing the prescribed proficiency or awareness in knowledge and practices of the |
scientific reading instruction credential and a structured literacy instruction credential either: |
(1) As a condition of licensure; or |
(2) Within one year if the teacher is: |
(i) Already licensed; or |
(ii) Employed under a waiver from licensure. |
(i)(h) A provider of a state-approved educator preparation program shall include in its |
annual report to the department of elementary and secondary education (the "department") a |
description of program to prepare educators to teach reading using with scientific reading |
instruction and structured literacy instruction. |
(j)(i) A public school district that employs an educator in violation of this section or that |
does not provide the professional development as required under this section shall be in violation |
of the standards for accreditation of the Rhode Island board of education act, and the school |
district may be placed on probationary status by the department. A public school district placed |
on probationary status pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall send written notification |
to the parents of the students in the public school district of the reason for being placed on |
probationary status. |
(k) (j) A provider of a state-approved educator preparation program that does not comply |
with the requirements of this section may be subject to penalties up to and including having the |
provider's approval status revoked. |
(l)(k) The department is vested with the authority to, and shall enforce, this section. |
(m)(l) The department shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. |
(n)(m) As used in this section: |
(1) The term "scientific reading instruction" means instruction that is instructional |
centered, empirically based, and further based on the study of the relationship between cognitive |
science and educational outcomes; and |
(2) The term "structured literacy instruction" means an approach by which licensed |
personnel teach reading, which includes syllables, morphology, sound-symbol correspondence, |
semantics, and syntax, in an explicit, systematic, and diagnostic manner. |
SECTION 2. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled "EDUCATION" is hereby amended |
by adding thereto the following chapter: |
CHAPTER 67.2 |
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA AND RELATED DISORDERS |
16-67.2-1. Teacher professional development and training. |
No later than September 1, 2021, the department of elementary and secondary education |
shall develop and make available on its website resources to assist school districts in developing a |
program to ensure all teachers and school administrators have access to materials to support |
professional awareness of best practices on: |
(1) Recognition of the characteristics of dyslexia, related disorders, dyscalculia, and |
dysgraphia; and |
(2) Evidence-based interventions and accommodations for dyslexia, related disorders, |
dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. |
16-67.2-2. Learning laboratory. |
(a) The department of elementary and secondary education (the "department") shall |
develop a collaborative learning laboratory (the "laboratory") to assist and promote training for |
parents, guardians, caregivers, and teachers in: |
(1) Recognition of the characteristics of dyslexia, related disorders, dyscalculia, and |
dysgraphia; and |
(2) Evidence-based interventions and accommodations for dyslexia, related disorders, |
dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. |
(b) In developing the laboratory, the department shall work with professionals and |
experts who have proven, data-driven models of success in teaching students with dyslexia. The |
department shall seek to foster partnerships among educators and practitioners from both the |
public and private teaching sectors, with the goal of ensuring that every student in this state who |
has dyslexia shall be appropriately and adequately screened, diagnosed, and provided therapy, |
instruction, and accommodations as needed. |
16-67.2-3. Department of elementary and secondary education responsibilities. |
(a) The department of elementary and secondary education (the "department") shall |
disseminate, using web-based technology, research-based best-practice methods by which the |
state and district school boards and committees shall evaluate and improve the professional |
development system of teachers in regard to dyslexia. |
(b) The department shall also disseminate, using web-based technology, professional |
development in the use of integrated digital instruction at schools that include middle grades. |
16-67.2-4. Dyslexia and related disorder education in teacher preparation programs. |
No later than the 2021-2022 school year, the department of elementary and secondary |
education (the "department") shall collaborate with the board of education to require that all |
department-approved undergraduate educator preparation programs for licensure as a teacher of |
elementary education and as a reading specialist/consultant include instruction in: |
(1) Dyslexia professional awareness of the characteristics of dyslexia and related |
disorders; |
(2) Evidence-based interventions and accommodations for dyslexia and related disorders; |
and |
(3) Completion of a classroom educator program providing instruction in the use of |
specific dyslexia- and related disorder-targeted methods of teaching. |
16-67.2-5. Research commission. |
(a) No later than January 1, 2020, the general assembly shall form a joint study research |
commission (the "commission") consisting of nine (9) members to be appointed as follows: one |
with expertise in educating students with learning disabilities to be appointed by the speaker of |
the house; one with expertise in educating students with learning disabilities to be appointed by |
the president of the senate; one with expertise in educating students with learning disabilities to |
be appointed by the governor; one member of the house of representatives, which who shall be |
appointed by the speaker of the house; one member of the senate, which who shall be appointed |
by the president of the senate; three (3) teachers with expertise in dyslexia to be appointed jointly |
by the speaker of the house and the president of the senate; and one parent of a student with |
dyslexia, which who shall be appointed by the speaker of the house. |
(b) The purpose of the commission shall be to study the possibility and feasibility of |
establishing two (2) schools, to be located on the University university of Rhode Island and |
Rhode Island College college campuses, which that would be dedicated to the instruction of |
dyslexic children and the development of instructional techniques and professional development |
programs used to improve the instruction and identification of dyslexia and other learning |
disabilities. |
(c) The commission shall be funded by the general assembly, and shall visit no fewer |
than four (4) schools dedicated to the education of dyslexic children, provided that if a school |
selected for visitation is greater than forty (40) miles away from the state of Rhode Island’s |
capitol building, the visit may be conducted virtually. |
(d) The commission shall render a report to the governor and to the general assembly |
prior to the commencement of the 2021 legislative session on the ways in which the department |
can enforce realistic goals pertaining to the increased availability of quality instruction for: |
(1) Students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities; and |
(2) Instructors, administrators, and special educators regarding dyslexia and other |
learning disabilities. |
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC001688/SUB B |
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