Senate Bill 2560

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-177-1 AND 37-177-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE STANDARDS TO BE DOCUMENTED FOR INTENSIVE READING INSTRUCTION AND INTERVENTION FOR KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST-GRADE STUDENTS UNDER THE LITERACY-BASED PROMOTION ACT BEGINNING WITH THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-177-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-177-1. (1) There is established an act prohibiting social promotion to be known as the "Literacy-Based Promotion Act," the purpose of which is to improve the reading skills of Kindergarten and First- through Third-Grade students enrolled in the public schools so that every student completing the Third Grade is able to read at or above grade level. It is the intent of the Legislature, in establishing this act, to ensure that: each Kindergarten and First- through Third-Grade student's progression is determined, in part, upon the student's proficiency in reading; the policies of local school boards facilitate this proficiency; and each student and the student's parent or legal guardian is informed of the student's academic progress.

(2) Each public school student who exhibits a substantial deficiency in reading at any time, as demonstrated through performance on a reading screener approved or developed by the State Department of Education or through locally determined assessments and teacher observations conducted in Kindergarten and Grades 1 through 3 or through statewide end-of-year assessments or approved alternate yearly assessments in Grade 3, must be given intensive reading instruction and intervention immediately following the identification of the reading deficiency. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, the State Department of Education shall require an assessment with the approved reading screener for every public school student enrolled in Kindergarten and First Grade and each Kindergarten and First-Grade student shall be given intensive reading instruction and intervention immediately following the identification of the reading deficiency. The intensive reading instruction and intervention must be documented for each student in an individual reading plan, which includes, at a minimum, the following:

(a) The student's specific, diagnosed reading skill deficiencies as determined (or identified) by diagnostic assessment data;

(b) The goals and benchmarks for growth;

(d) The type of additional instructional services and interventions the student will receive;

(e) The research-based reading instructional programming the teacher will use to provide reading instruction, addressing the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension;

(f) The strategies the student's parent is encouraged to use in assisting the student to achieve reading competency; and

(g) Any additional services the teacher deems available and appropriate to accelerate the student's reading skill development.

(3) The universal reading screener or locally determined reading assessment may be given in the first thirty (30) days of the school year and repeated if indicated at midyear and at the end of the school year to determine student progression in reading in Kindergarten through Third Grade. If it is determined that the student continues to have a reading deficiency, the student must be provided with continued intensive reading instruction and intervention by the school district until the reading deficiency is remedied. A student exhibiting continued reading deficiency with continued intensive interventions should be considered for exceptional criteria evaluation.

(4) A Kindergarten or First-, Second- or Third-Grade student identified with a deficiency in reading must be provided intensive interventions in reading to ameliorate the student's specific reading deficiency, as identified by a valid and reliable diagnostic assessment. The intensive intervention must include effective instructional strategies, and appropriate teaching methodologies necessary to assist the student in becoming a successful reader, able to read at or above grade level, and ready for promotion to the next grade. A Kindergarten, First-, Second- or Third-Grade student identified with a reading deficiency or not promoted may be placed in a transition class.

SECTION 2. Section 37-177-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-177-3. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, immediately upon the determination of a reading deficiency, and subsequently with each quarterly progress report until the deficiency is remediated, the parent or legal guardian of a Kindergarten or First-, Second- or Third-Grade student who exhibits a substantial deficiency in reading must be notified in writing by the student's teacher of the following:

(a) That the student has been identified as having a substantial deficiency in reading;

(b) A description of the services that the school district currently is providing to the student;

(c) A description of the proposed supplemental instructional services and supports that are designed to remediate the identified area of reading deficiency which the school district plans to provide the student, as outlined in the student's individual reading plan;

(d) That if the student's reading deficiency is not remediated before the end of the student's Third-Grade year, the student will not be promoted to Fourth Grade unless a good cause exemption specified under Section 37-177-11 is met;

(e) Strategies for parents and guardians to use in helping the student to succeed in reading proficiency; and

(f) That while the state annual accountability assessment for reading in Third Grade is the initial determinant, it is not the sole determiner of promotion and that approved alternative standardized assessments are available to assist the school district in knowing when a child is reading at or above grade level and ready for promotion to the next grade.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.