Thank you for providing your feedback on the updated draft of the Ohio Dyslexia Guidebook (linked here) to the members of the State Board’s Teaching, Leading, Learning (TLL) Committee ahead of their meeting yesterday morning.
The TLL Committee did not approve the Guidebook yesterday. Instead, they will send recommendations to the Dyslexia Committee directing them to make further edits.
At the request of the statewide education organizations, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has prepared a document that outlines the legal requirements for schools based on the passage of dyslexia legislation in 2020 (HB 436). A copy of the document can be accessed here.
Because of confusion created over the draft Dyslexia Guidebook distributed to the field for feedback earlier this year, we thought it was important to make members aware of what is required by law, separate from what the Ohio Dyslexia Committee recommends as “Best Practices” within the Guidebook. In other words, the Guidebook contains practices that districts may aspire to, but the actual legal requirements can be found in this new document.
Superintendents and treasurers should review these legal requirements with the literacy experts in their districts. We continue to stress the unfunded costs of these requirements on districts to state board members and legislators. We need districts’ forecasted cost estimates to support our discussions.
The costs will be district-specific, depending on the screener and trained personnel a district may already employ, etc. We will send out a survey to members in the next few weeks asking districts to forecast the costs of these requirements.
Please contact us with any questions.
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