One in five children needs more help learning to read than the average student. And countless children, including my daughter, will not receive help when intervention is most likely to be successful if they are not properly screened for the possibility. Reading assignments for lower grades.
That’s why dyslexia advocacy groups like Colorado Children’s Campaign for Dyslexia Certification (COKID) have been pushing state legislatures for years to pass legislation that would require dyslexia testing for students in kindergarten through second grade. You have the intelligence to become a much better reader.
But each time advocates tried, their efforts failed. why?
One reason is that those with the power to pass mandatory screening bills, including state Sen. Janet Buckner, chair of the Senate Education Committee, have already established a system for dyslexic patients through reading laws to ensure academic development. (Colorado Read Law).
In a September 2023 email shared with COKID, Sen. Buckner wrote an email addressed to “Senate Leadership, the Senate Education Committee, and Education Policy Advocates,” in which a policy analyst said the following: CDE), districts that contract with large companies will add dyslexia screening to her READ Act assessments from kindergarten through third grade starting in fall 2023. All school districts plan to implement screenings in kindergarten through high school seniors by fall 2024. ”
The senator said in 2022 the CDE will require companies that develop reading assessments, tests administered periodically throughout the school year to monitor student growth and guide instruction, to apply for state approval. He made the statement based on the fact that he had requested it.
The CDE concluded that only two of the 19 applications met the standards required by the READ Act, which included screening for dyslexia characteristics. In the end, the state board approved five evaluations after several superintendents from large school districts complained that abandoning the current evaluations would take too much time, money, and effort.
However, proponents of dyslexia screening laws say that most of the tests that have gone through the approval process do not test for all five components of dyslexia, and that the risk of students struggling to learn to read depends on composite scores or They claim that they make decisions based on the overall score.
Children with dyslexia compensate for weaknesses in one area, such as oral reading fluency, by excelling in other areas, such as reading comprehension. This imbalance can result in a student’s overall score being high enough to prevent them from receiving the intervention they need. This is exactly what happened to my daughter, who has excellent language comprehension skills.
COKID leaders spoke on the phone about why the state board and lawmakers believe the state is testing for dyslexia, said Floyd, CDE’s vice chair for student learning and Buckner’s son-in-law. -When I called Mr. Cobb to raise my objections, Mr. Cobb said he had recommended an evaluation to the state board. Heads of educational institutions who have the ability to screen for dyslexia and it is up to them to make the final approval.
The ability to screen for dyslexia is not the same as the ability to screen. Curriculum Associates, which owns the state-approved assessment iReady, acknowledged this weakness in its application for approval, stating: i-Ready Literacy Tasks. ”
The same is true for Istation, another state-approved assessment. This test does not screen for dyslexia unless you add RAN and look at subtest scores (not composite scores).
Another widely used assessment called STAR Early Learning also requires two tests to meet the standards outlined in the law, but the approved list only includes the Early Learning test.
Before launching a dyslexia screening pilot in 2019, Boulder Valley School District used iReady and Istation (Spanish version) to identify children who needed additional reading intervention. Once the pilot began, the district added additional English and Spanish dyslexia testers.
“At the midterm assessments (i-Ready and IStation), only 41% of students were found to be at risk for dyslexia screening, which means 59% of students “This means that they have characteristics of dyslexia.” Previous screening methods missed it. ”
Professor Kazi said it was quickly clear that mid-term assessments were not specific enough to identify the characteristics of dyslexia, and adding a dyslexia screener would help identify students’ reading weaknesses and those most in need of support. He said that it has become possible to focus on specific areas.
Although the CDE and the state Legislature continue to insist that Colorado does not need a universal dyslexia testing law, more children will continue to struggle to reach grade-level proficiency.
Forty-one states have passed laws requiring universal testing for dyslexia, and it’s time for Colorado to do the same.
Susie Glassman is a freelance journalist covering education, elections, and politics. She lives in Douglas County with her husband, two children, and two rescue dogs.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of our columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of our newsroom. For more information about The Sun’s opinion policy, read our ethics policy. Learn how to submit a column. Please contact our opinion editors at [email protected].
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.