§ 38–2581.02. Office of the State Superintendent of Education responsibilities.

(a) Beginning with School Year 2022-2023, OSSE shall provide an array of supports, informed by best practices such as the knowledge and practice standards of an international association of dyslexia, to assist LEAs and public schools to achieve the requirements and goals set forth in this chapter and to adopt teaching and learning practices that support students with reading difficulties, including:

(1) Regular, high-quality professional development opportunities for an LEA's

educators that will enable educators to:

(A) Understand and recognize reading difficulties;

(B) Screen for reading difficulties; and

(C) Implement instruction in the general education classroom, or during reading intervention, that is systemic, cumulative, explicit, diagnostic, multi-sensory, and evidence-based to meet the educational needs of students with reading difficulties.

(2) Awareness training on reading difficulties for all LEA educators, including those covered by § 38-2581.03(a).

(3) A list of recommended screening instruments that an LEA may use to identify students who are at risk of reading difficulties, which screen for the following factors:

(A) Phonological awareness;

(B) Rapid naming skills;

(C) Correspondence between sounds and letters; and

(D) Decoding; and

(4) Guidance on:

(A) How to identify if a student has one or more reading difficulties, including how to distinguish whether an English language learner's reading issue is due to a reading difficulty or is associated with learning English as a second language;

(B) Proper protocols and procedures for screening students for potential reading difficulties; and

(C) Specialized, multi-tiered remediation and intervention instruction that is grounded in science-based reading instruction, intended for a general education setting and designed to support students who are identified as being at risk of having reading difficulties.

(b) For the purpose of providing LEAs and public schools the services set forth in subsection (a) of this section, OSSE may:

(1) Award a contract or grant to one or more for-profit or nonprofit organizations;

(2) Award contracts or competitive or formula grants to LEAs, schools, or partnerships developed among schools or with nonprofit organizations;

(3) Establish a memorandum of understanding with a District agency; or

(4) Any combination of paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection.

(c) OSSE shall hire at least one individual who has an expertise in reading and reading difficulties to implement the requirements of this section and § 38-2581.06.