Dyslexia in Oregon

In 2015 the Oregon Senate passed Bill 612 and then amended said bill with Senate Bill 1003 in 2017. The bills mandate that dyslexia training should be made available to teachers. The law requires that one teacher at each K-5 school has done training by July 1, 2018. Their role is not training to train or to diagnose. The trained teacher, however, will be able to recognize dyslexia and resource questions from other teachers and parents.  They will also sit on student level problem team (RTI team). This teacher will help Tier 2 and 3 students (those who have not mastered particular standards) in reading. All teacher trainings should be aligned with standards of the International Dyslexia Association.  The goals of dyslexia training are to:

1. Ensure training teaches teachers to understand and recognize dyslexia. 
2. Ensure the teacher is able to systematically teach with evidence based instruction. 
3. Teachers should be able to Intensify that instruction 

Teachers who underwent the training should be a part of collaborating and developing the curriculum which is aligned with standards.  Instructional support that is used should be evidence based, systematic and explicit.
Another part of the Senate Bill 612 mandated that all kindergartners will be screened for universal risk factors for dyslexia. Senate Bill 1003 provided that students would be screened in kindergarten or when first enrolled in first grade. As it is a universal screener permission is not required. The screening process would involve assessments in the following areas:

1. Phonological awareness 
2. Rapid naming skills 
3. Letter sound correspondences 

As part of a second step, if deemed necessary, a family history would be taken.  Parents should be notified about the assessments as well as interventions.  The Bill also ensured that funding for trainings is available to districts through the Educator Advancement Fund.

AREAS OF GROWTH

The goal of the IDA is that "all students should have access to evidence-based instruction in reading coursework", however the law does not require this, nor does it require that trained teachers at each school,  teach other teachers. Although these trained individuals can be consulted the ultimate goal is to have interventions and systematic implementation take place in the classroom.   Currently there is not guarantee or means to ensure that the necessary information and training will permeate to all teachers. On the upside the IDA does outline effective instruction in their Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading at: http://eida.org/knowledge-and-practices/

Additionally, this summer the IDA will begin aligning educator preparation resources, including publications, webinars, and information briefs, with the Knowledge and Practice Standards (IDA, 2010) to support their use in pre-service and in-service educator preparation contexts. Currently they have outlined the standards that teachers should follow to meet the needs of students. These can be accessed at http://or.dyslexiaida.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/KPSforEducators.pdf

Works Cited:
"Oregon Dyslexia Legislation FAQ's 2017- YouTube." Oct 9, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHM7Aw2giSI&t=51sI. Accessed 3 July. 2018.

Oregon Branch of the International Dyslexia Association. Legislative Goals of the Oregon Branch of the International Dyslexia Association on behalf of dyslexia and related learning disabilities. http://or.dyslexiaida.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/Position-Paper-Legislative-Goals.pdf Accessed on 3 July 2018.