2020 Idaho Code
Title 33 - EDUCATION
Chapter 16 - COURSES OF INSTRUCTION
Section 33-1616 - LITERACY INTERVENTION.

33-1616. LITERACY INTERVENTION. (1) Each school district and public charter school shall establish an extended time literacy intervention program for students who score basic or below basic on the fall reading assessments or alternate reading assessment in kindergarten through grade 3 and submit it to the state board of education.

(2) The program:

(a) Shall provide proven effective research-based substantial intervention and shall include phonemic awareness, decoding intervention, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency as applicable to the student based on a formative assessment designed to, at a minimum, identify such weaknesses;

(b) May include online or digital instructional materials or programs or library resources and must include parent input and be in alignment with the Idaho comprehensive literacy plan. Online or digital materials that are part of a core literacy program are not required to be approved as described in subsection (3) of this section;

(c) Shall include a minimum of sixty (60) hours of supplemental instruction for students in kindergarten through grade 3 who score below basic on the reading screening assessment; and

(d) Shall include a minimum of thirty (30) hours of supplemental instruction for students in kindergarten through grade 3 who score basic on the reading screening assessment.

(3) (a) The state board of education shall select and approve adaptive learning technology literacy intervention providers through a request for proposals process to provide literacy intervention tools that are adaptive to a child’s personalized learning needs for school districts and public charter schools to use as part of their literacy intervention programs for students in kindergarten through grade 3. Such a tool shall:

• (i) Be an academic program focused on building age-appropriate literacy skills that, at a minimum, include phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary;

  (ii) Use an evidence-based early intervention model; and

  (iii) Include a parental engagement and involvement component that allows parents to participate in their student’s use of the tool at school or at home.

(b) A tool offered by an approved provider must be evaluated each year to determine effectiveness by an independent external evaluator in order for the provider to remain approved. The evaluation will be based on a full academic year of implementation of tools implemented with fidelity and will include, at a minimum, growth toward proficiency measures. A provider of an intervention tool described in this subsection shall not provide the reading assessment pursuant to section 33-1615, Idaho Code.

(4) Of the funds appropriated for the purpose of this section, no more than one hundred dollars ($100) per student may be used for transportation costs.

(5) For the purpose of program reimbursement, the state department of education shall adopt reporting forms, establish reporting dates, and adopt such additional guidelines and standards as necessary to accomplish the program goals that every child will read fluently and comprehend printed text at grade level by the end of the third grade.

(6) To ensure students receive high-quality literacy instruction and intervention, the state department of education shall provide professional development to districts and schools on best practices supporting literacy instruction as outlined in the state board of education-approved "Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Plan." Intervention program participation and effectiveness by school and district shall be presented annually to the state board, the legislature, and the governor.

(7) The state board of education shall promulgate rules implementing the provisions of this section. At a minimum, such rules shall include student trajectory growth to proficiency benchmarks and a timeline for reaching such benchmarks. The state board of education shall also adopt a timeline sufficient to assure that the literacy intervention tool described in subsection (3) of this section is available for school districts and public charter schools to effectively implement for the 2020-2021 school year.

History:

[33-1616, added 2016, ch. 186, sec. 7, p. 508; am. 2020, ch. 292, sec. 1, p. 843.]