Under the bill, a school board or independent charter school must provide a pupil's results on a reading readiness screening assessment to the pupil's parent by no later than 15 days after the applicable assessment is scored. The results provided to the parent must include the pupil's overall score, the pupil's score on each literacy skill category assessed by the assessment, the pupil's percentile rank score, if available, the score on the assessment that indicates a pupil is at-risk, and a plain language explanation of the literacy skills that were evaluated by the assessment. In addition, if a school board or independent charter school is required to screen a pupil using a level 1 or level 2 screening assessment, the school board or independent charter school must provide the pupil's parent with information related to characteristics of dyslexia, including information about the common indicators of characteristics of dyslexia and appropriate interventions and accommodations for pupils with characteristics of dyslexia.

The bill also requires each school board and independent charter school to have an early literacy remediation plan. An early literacy remediation plan must include information about screening assessments used to identify at-risk pupils, the interventions used to address characteristics of dyslexia, and monitoring pupil progress related to early literacy skills. Under the bill, each school district and independent charter school must post its early literacy remediation plan on its Internet site.

Under current law, a school board or independent charter school must report the results of a reading readiness assessment to a pupil's parent. Current law does not provide a deadline by which the reading readiness results must be provided to parents.

Reporting requirements

Under the bill, school boards and independent charter schools must annually, by July 15, report to DPI 1) the number of pupils who were identified as at-risk based on a reading readiness screening assessment administered in the previous school year; 2) the number of five-year-old kindergarten to second grade pupils who began receiving literacy interventions or remedial reading services in the previous school year, by grade; and 3) the total number of five-year-old kindergarten to second grade pupils who received literacy interventions or remedial reading services in the previous school year. The school board or independent charter school must also report the names of the specific reading readiness screening assessments the school board or independent charter school used to screen pupils, as required under the bill, in the previous school year. Annually, by November 30, DPI must compile the information it receives from school boards and independent charter schools and submit a report to the legislature.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SB454,1 Section 1 . 115.38 (1) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB454,5,6 115.38 (1) (a) Indicators of academic achievement, including the performance of pupils on the tests administered under s. 121.02 (1) (r), the performance of pupils on screening assessments required under s. 118.016 (3), and the performance of pupils, by subject area, on the statewide assessment examinations administered under s. 118.30.

SB454,2 Section 2 . 118.016 of the statutes is repealed and recreated to read:

SB454,6,2 118.016 Reading readiness screening assessments; characteristics of dyslexia. (1) Definitions. In this section:

SB454,6,5 (a) “At-risk” means a pupil scored below the 25th percentile on a universal screening assessment, a level 1 screening assessment, or a level 2 screening assessment, as indicated by the publisher of the screening assessment.

SB454,6,6 (b) “Dyslexia” means a specific learning disability that is all of the following:

SB454,6,7 1. Neurobiological in origin.

SB454,6,12 2. Characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities that typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language. Consequences of these difficulties may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that may impede vocabulary growth and background knowledge.

SB454,6,13 3. Often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities.

SB454,6,17 (c) “Family history survey” means a questionnaire that includes questions about previous recommendations for summer reading support or outside tutoring, general interest in reading and books, family history of characteristics of dyslexia, and any known family struggles in reading or spelling.

SB454,6,19 (d) “Fidelity” means to perform in the manner that the author or publisher of a program or screening assessment intends.

SB454,6,22 (e) “Fundamental skills screening assessment” means an assessment that evaluates whether a pupil possesses phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge.

SB454,6,25 (f) “Inadequate rate of progress” means a rate of improvement that is minimal and that with continued intervention the pupil is unlikely to demonstrate grade-level skills by the end of the school year.

SB454,7,2 (g) “Independent charter school” means a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r) or (2x).

SB454,7,4 (h) “Intensive intervention” means an intervention that satisfies all of the criteria in par. (i) 1. to 3.

SB454,7,5 (i) “Intervention” means an intervention that is any of the following:

SB454,7,8 1. Explicit, direct instruction that is systematic, sequential, and cumulative and follows a logical plan of presenting the area of deficit that targets the specific needs of the pupil without presuming prior skills or knowledge of the pupil.

SB454,7,11 2. Individualized instruction to meet the specific needs of a pupil in a setting that uses intensive, highly concentrated instruction methods and materials that maximize pupil engagement.

SB454,7,13 3. Instruction that incorporates the simultaneous use of 2 or more sensory pathways during teacher presentations and pupil practice.

SB454,7,16 4. Any other instructional approach that is appropriate to target the needs of the pupil, as determined by the applicable school board or operator of an independent charter school.