Federal Legislation
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015. It helps ensure success for students and schools. It increases investments in preschools, and ensures that statewide assessments are done annually and information is shared with educators, families, students, and families. If a school is not making progress or has a low graduation rate over time- those schools are held accountable and actions will take place that have a positive impact. It requires that all students in America be taught to high-standards and help prepare them for college and careers.
The impacts this could have on literacy leaders are more children receiving quality preschool therefore increasing students reading skills earlier in their education. Literacy leaders have more information about students from their annual testing. The tests could show areas of growth and weaknesses in a school overall literacy plan and/or curriculum.
State Legislation
120B.12 Reading Proficiently No Later Than the End of Grade 3
Includes 5 subdivisions: Literacy goal, Identification- parent notification and involvement, intervention, staff development- local literacy plan, and Commissioner.
Literacy Goal– The goal of the legislature is to have every child reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade and teachers teach comprehensive and scientifically based reading instruction.
Identification and Parent notification and involvement- School districts must identify children in kindergarten, first, and second grades that are not reading a grade level before the end of the school year. If a child is behind they must be screened for characteristics of dyslexia. If a child is in third grade or in an older grade and they are behind the district must screen for characteristics of dyslexia as well.
Reading Assessments need to be done to evaluate and identify a child’s area of literacy needs. Assessment results need to be reported annually to the Commissioner by July, 1. The school district needs to also annually report a summary of the districts screening and identification process of students with dyslexia, and convergence insufficiency disorder. A student that is identified under this subdivision must be provided alternative instruction.
Parents must be notified at least annually if their child is not reading a grade level. They also must be notified about what assessment was used, what reading services their child is currently receiving, and strategies they can use at home to help their child.
Intervention- School districts must provide reading intervention to accelerate a student’s reading growth to ensure that they are reading at grade level by the end of the school year. If the student does not reach grade level proficiency by the end of the school year, the district must continue to provide reading interventions until they do reach grade level reading.
A school district is strongly encouraged to provide a personal learning plan for students who need reading at grade level by grade three. The personal learning plan needs to include the guardians, knowledge gaps, skill deficiencies, strategies, when the strategies will happen, assessments, and a timeline.
Staff development- local literacy plan- Each school district will use data from assessments to identify staff development needs. Elementary teachers need to provide instruction in the five areas of reading- phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Licensed teachers are provided regular opportunities to improve reading and writing instruction.
The school district needs to have a local literacy plan that includes a process to assess a students’ reading level, a process to notify parents, a process about reading strategies and interventions, identify staff development needs, and the plan must be posted on the school district’s website.
Commissioner- The commissioner will make recommendations about assessment tools, and give examples of national recognized and research based instructional methods about reading instruction and interventions.
Literacy leaders need to know the statutes and when laws change. They need to be aware of the rules and regulations to ensure their school district is meeting the requirements of the laws, and the needs of students and teachers. They need to work with teachers to guide, help assess, develop plans, make professional developments effective, and be a point of contact for questions.
Teachers need to be aware of the rules and regulations to be ready to implement the requirements in their classrooms, work with their literacy leaders, be flexible to changes and ongoing learning.
References
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2020, from https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=policy
Revisor of Statutes. (2019). Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Retrieved February 22, 2020, from https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/120b.12
Literacy- Thoughts, Ideas, and Practices 