Screening

Texas Education Code (TEC) §28.006, Reading Diagnosis

This state statute requires schools to administer early reading instruments to all students in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 to assess their reading development and comprehension. Additionally, the law requires a reading instrument from the commissioner’s approved list be administered at the beginning of grade 7 to any student who did not demonstrate proficiency on the sixth-grade reading assessment administered under TEC §39.023(a). If on the basis of the reading instrument results, students are determined to be at risk for dyslexia or other reading difficulties, the school must notify the students’ parents/guardians. According to TEC §28.006(g), the school must also implement an accelerated (intensive) reading program that appropriately addresses the students’ reading difficulties and enables them to catch up with their typically performing peers.

TEC §38.003, Screening and Treatment for Dyslexia

Texas state law requires that public school students be screened and tested as appropriate for dyslexia and related disorders at appropriate times in accordance with a program approved by the SBOE. The program approved by the SBOE must include screening for each student at the end of the kindergarten year and then again during first grade.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA)

The services offered to students who are reported to be at risk for dyslexia or other reading difficulties should alight to the requirements of ESSSA, which requires schools to implement comprehensive literacy instruction featuring “age-appropriate, explicit, systematic, and intentional instruction in phonological awareness, phonic decoding, vocabulary, language structure, reading fluency, and reading comprehension” (ESSA, 2015)

Equal Education Opportunity Act (EEOA)

This civil rights law ensures that all students are given equal access to educational services regardless of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. Therefore, research-based interventions are to be provided to all students experiencing difficulties in reading, including ELs, regardless of their proficiency in English.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The most recent reauthorization of this federal act is consistent with ESSA in emphasizing quality of instruction and documentation of student progress. A process based on the student’s response to scientific, research-based intervention is one of the criteria included in IDEA that individual states may use to determine when a student has a specific learning disability, including dyslexia.