Policy 604.08
Reading Instruction and Improvement
The district curriculum will be developed to facilitate reading instruction and intervention services to address student reading needs, including, but not limited to, dyslexia. In doing so, the district will ensure that all teachers for kindergarten through grade three should be effective reading teachers as evidenced by (a) evaluations based on classroom observations and student improvement on reading assessments, OR (b) specialized training in reading improvement. Each student and his or her parents or guardians will be informed of the student’s reading progress. It is the district’s intent that each student be able to read at or above grade level by third grade.
Schools will administer an approved reading assessment as defined by the Nebraska Department of Education three times during the school year to all students in kindergarten through grade three, except for any student receiving specialized instruction for limited English proficiency who has been receiving such instruction for less than two years, any student receiving special education services for whom such assessment would conflict with the individualized education plan, and any student receiving services under a plan pursuant to the requirements of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or Title II of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, for whom such assessment would conflict with such section 504 or Title II plan. The first administration of the approved reading assessment shall occur within the first thirty days of the school year.
Any student in kindergarten, grade one, grade two, or grade three shall be identified as having a reading deficiency if such student performs below the threshold level determined pursuant to the Nebraska Reading Improvement Act. A student who is identified as having a reading deficiency shall remain identified as having a reading deficiency until the student performs at or above the identified threshold level on an approved reading assessment.
The district will provide a supplemental reading intervention program for the purpose of ensuring that students can read at or above grade level at the end of third grade. Each supplemental reading intervention program shall:
(a) be provided to any student identified as having a reading deficiency;
(b) be implemented during regular school hours in addition to regularly scheduled reading instruction, unless otherwise agreed to by a parent or guardian; and
(c) make available a summer reading program each summer for any student who has been enrolled in grade one or higher and is identified as continuing to have a reading deficiency at the conclusion of the school year preceding such summer reading program.
The school of any student who is identified as having a reading deficiency shall notify such student’s parents or guardians either in writing or by electronic communication no later than fifteen working days after the identification of the reading deficiency that the student has been identified as having a reading deficiency and that an individual reading improvement plan will be established and shared with the parents or guardians.
Any student who is identified as having a reading deficiency shall receive an individual reading improvement plan no later than thirty days after the identification of such reading deficiency. The reading improvement plan may be created by the teacher, the principal, other pertinent school personnel, and the parents or guardians of the student; and shall describe the reading intervention services the student will receive. Each such student shall receive reading intervention services until the student is no longer identified as having a reading deficiency.
Legal Reference: Nebraska Reading Improvement Act (LB1081)
Approved: August 20, 2018