The law:
- requires the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to designate a Dyslexia Specialist to provide school districts with support and resources to assist students with dyslexia and their families. Contact Carrie Thomas Beck, Dyslexia Specialist, for additional information.
- requires each school district to ensure that at least one K-5 teacher in each K-5 school receive training related to dyslexia. The bill required the Department to develop and communicate annually a list of training opportunities for districts related to dyslexia. First wave of teachers required to complete ODE approved training by July 1, 2018.
- requires the Department to develop a plan to ensure that every student who is first enrolled at a public school in the state for kindergarten or first grade receives a screening for risk factors of dyslexia. The screening requirements first apply to the 2018-19 school year:
- each school district ensure that every student is screened for risk factors of dyslexia using a screening test identified by the department when the student is first enrolled in a public school in kindergarten (or first grade, if a student is first enrolled in public school for first grade)
- the screening tests administered to students in kindergarten must include phonological awareness, rapid naming skills, and letter/sound correspondences
- the screening must take into account family history of difficulty in learning to read IF the student shows risk factors for reading difficulties, including dyslexia