GREEN SHEET REDIGEST
HB 69 2023 Regular Session Marino
STUDENTS: Provides for the screening and diagnosis of students with respect to
dyslexia.
DIGEST
Dyslexia generally
Present law, relative to dyslexia, provides the following:
(1)Requires the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to adopt a
program for testing students for dyslexia and related disorders and requires school
boards to provide remediation for dyslexic students in accordance with the program.
(2)Requires every child in grades K-3 to be screened at least once for dyslexia.
(3)Requires a student to be referred for dyslexia testing upon request of a parent,
student, school nurse, classroom teacher, or other school personnel.
(4)Provides for implementation of a pilot program relative to dyslexia screening.
Proposed law repeals present law and provides the following relative to dyslexia:
Definitions
Present law defines "dyslexia" as an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who
has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in
phonological processing, which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell.
Defines "phonological processing" as meaning the appreciation of the individual sounds of
spoken and written language. Proposed law retains present law.
Screening
Proposed law requires the state Department of Education to select a dyslexia screener with
an area under the curve of 0.80 or above and provide the screener, at no cost, to each public
school. Further requires the dyslexia screener to be administered to each student by a
classroom teacher in the second half of kindergarten or at any time it is requested by a
teacher or a parent or guardian. Prohibits the screener from being a progress monitoring tool
and requires that it be developed solely for dyslexia; be evidence-based with proven,
published academic validity; and be used for the purpose of determining whether a student
is at-risk for dyslexia.
Identification
Proposed law, relative to diagnosis, provides the following:
(1)Provides that if screening results indicate that a student is at risk for dyslexia, the
school, in order to determine whether he has dyslexia, shall determine through
history, observation, and academic assessment if there are unexpected difficulties in
reading and associated linguistic problems at the level of phonological processing
that are unrelated to the student's intelligence, age, and grade level.
(2)Provides that the core assessment for the identification of dyslexia shall not be based
on a single test score or specific number of characteristics and shall include the
following:
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Prepared by Michael Bell. (a)Tests of language, particularly phonemic assessment, real words and
pseudowords, oral reading fluency, and a brief standardized screening tool of
intellectual ability.
(b)An academic performance review.
(c)A parental interview.
Reporting and ancillary certification
Present law provides for reporting relative to students with dyslexia and provides for the
issuance of an ancillary certificate to a teacher for service as a dyslexia practitioner or
dyslexia therapist. Proposed law retains present law but recodifies it for purposes of statutory
organization.
Applicability
Proposed law applies proposed law (relative to dyslexia screening and identification) and
present law (relative to dyslexia reporting) to all public schools, including charter schools.
Rules
Proposed law requires BESE to promulgate rules to implement proposed law in accordance
with the Administrative Procedure Act.
(Amends R.S. 17:7.2(A)(8)(a)(iii), 392.1(D), and 2112(Section heading); adds R.S.
17:392.11-392.13 and 3996(B)(75); repeals R.S. 17:7(11), 392.1(B)(2)(a) and (3) and (F),
392.2, and 2112(A)(2) and (B)
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Education to the
original bill:
1. Apply proposed law and present law relative to dyslexia (screening, diagnosis,
and reporting) to charter schools.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate
Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Education to the engrossed
bill
1. Require the state Department of Education to select a dyslexia screener that
meets certain criteria and to provide the screener, at no cost, to each public
school.
2. Change the word "diagnosis" to "identification".
3. Change the word "psychometric" to "academic".
4. Require the core assessment for the identification of dyslexia to include a brief
standardized screening tool of intellectual ability.
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Prepared by Michael Bell.