2021 -- H 5839

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LC001736

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION DYSLEXIA - THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL FOR

DYSLEXIA ACT

     Introduced By: Representatives Quattrocchi, Place, Filippi, Nardone, and Price

     Date Introduced: February 24, 2021

     Referred To: House Education

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled "EDUCATION" is hereby amended by

adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 67.3

THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL FOR DYSLEXIA ACT

     16-67.3-1. Short title.

     This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Rhode Island School for Dyslexia

Act."

     16-67.3-2. Legislative findings.

     (1) Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin, characterized

by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities

that typically result from a deficiency in the phonological component of language.

     (2) Twenty percent (20%) of school-aged children in the United States are dyslexic.

     (3) Approximately eighty-percent (80%) of children placed in special education for

learning disabilities are dyslexic.

     (4) Dyslexia does not reflect an overall defect in language, but a localized weakness within

the phonologic module of the brain, where sounds of language are put together to form words or

break words down into sounds.

     (5) Most children identified as having characteristics of dyslexia and related disorders can

be remediated successfully by explicit, systematic, multisensory instruction in phonics and

morphology.

     (6) When intervention is delayed, it takes four (4) times as long to intervene in fourth grade

as it does in late kindergarten because of brain development and because of the increase in content

for students to learn as they grow older.

     16-67.3-3. Rhode Island school for dyslexia.

     (a) Upon the submission of all requirements pursuant to § 16-77.2-2 the commissioner is

hereby directed to authorize the creation of a charter school to admit all children found to have

identifying characteristics for dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, eligible to attend public school,

or a charter school, subject to space limitations, with an explicit mission and purpose to educate

children found to have dyslexia, through a multi-sensory phonics based Orton-Gillingham Infused

approach.

     (b) There shall be two (2) alternative education campuses, one located at Rhode Island

college, and a second located at the university of Rhode Island.

     (1) The initial alternative education campus located at Rhode Island college shall be

operational within one year of the passage of this act, and the second alternative education campus

will be operational within two (2) years of the passage of this act.

     (c) If the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or

building, students must be accepted based on the severity of dyslexia. If the applications exceed

the capacity of the program, class, grade level, or building, additional space must be made available

by the following calendar school year.

     (d) The dyslexic charter school may give enrollment priority to a sibling of a dyslexic pupil

currently enrolled and attending, as long as said sibling has a diagnosis of dyslexia, or who, within

the last six (6) years, attended the school for at least one complete academic year. The charter

school must also give enrollment preference to students enrolled in the charter school for dyslexia

the previous school year.

     (e) The principle of the dyslexia charter schools shall have the requisite knowledge and

experience in a direct, explicit, multisensory, phonics based, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and

prescriptive way of teaching literacy, have completed the IMSE comprehensive thirty (30) hour

Orton-Gillingham training, and have experience in the indices of teaching children who have

dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, including the use of assistive technology, assistive software

programs, and evaluating the children without the use of testing or grading.

     (f) The teachers of the dyslexia charter schools shall have the requisite knowledge and

experience in a direct, explicit, multisensory, phonics based, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and

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prescriptive way of teaching literacy, as well as having completed the IMSE comprehensive thirty

(30) hour Orton-Gillingham training.

     (g) The reading specialist schools shall have the requisite knowledge and experience in a

direct, explicit, multisensory, phonics based, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive

way of teaching literacy, as well as having completed the IMSE comprehensive thirty (30) hour

Orton-Gillingham training, as well as giving completed the IMSE intermediate thirty (30) hour

Orron-Gillingham training.

     (h) Both schools shall create a governing board, comprised of two (2) parents of currently

enrolled children, one parent of a dyslexic student who has graduated eighth grade from the charter

school, the principle and one teacher from the charter school, a representative from academia versed

in the science of reading, and a representative from an established dyslexic school within the United

States.

     (i) The board shall meet monthly and as needed, to receive a report from the principle, and

to make necessary decisions pertaining in the school.

     (j) The Rhode Island school for dyslexia shall be exempt from state mandated testing due

to the unique characteristics of the school population.

     (k) The dyslexic charter schools shall be named "The Rhode Island school for dyslexia",

and shall have a motto "Strength, Determination, Fortitude".

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION DYSLEXIA - THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL FOR

DYSLEXIA ACT

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     This act would establish a charter school for students with dyslexia.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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