PRINTER'S NO. 2353
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2045
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY ORTITAY, GUENST, LEWIS DELROSSO, MIHALEK,
SCHLOSSBERG, HILL-EVANS, SCHMITT, JAMES, GAYDOS, JOZWIAK AND
INNAMORATO, NOVEMBER 3, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, NOVEMBER 3, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," in professional employees, providing
for teacher support in the Science of Reading Program.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1195.1 of the act of March 10, 1949
(P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, is
amended to read:
Section 1195.1. [(Reserved).] Teacher support in the Science of
Reading Program.
(a) Legislative intent.--
(1) It is the intent of the General Assembly that
teachers be equipped to facilitate high-quality reading
instruction grounded in the science of reading and
intervention services to address student reading needs.
(2) The program provided in this section will assist
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school districts in providing professional development for
teachers in foundational skills and instructional
interventions based on the science of reading and selecting
district personnel to serve as reading coaches to support
teachers in delivering high-quality reading instruction.
(b) Program to be conducted.--
(1) Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, the
Department of Education shall conduct a program with school
districts that volunteer to participate according to the
implementation of professional development and applied
practice in the science of reading as selected school
district personnel provide in-class demonstration, modeling
and coaching support to improve reading and literacy
outcomes.
(2) Selected coaches must have at least five years of
experience in the teaching of reading by demonstrating their
skills in the instruction of and intervention with students,
including those with dyslexia and other language-related
disabilities.
(3) The department may contract with multiple service
providers to develop and implement the program so that
experienced support is available locally with providers who
can demonstrate application success.
(4) Training workshops and meetings do not constitute
the professional development required under the program.
(5) Local education agencies and institutions of higher
education that have successful implementation of literacy
outcomes are eligible to provide professional development and
onsite demonstration and coaching support in the program.
(c) Professional learning for kindergarten, first, second,
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third and fourth grade teachers.--Teachers in participating
school districts shall participate in training and in-class
application and demonstration of the foundational skills and
evidence-based intervention practices on the science of reading,
including explicit and systematic instruction in phonological
and phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, decoding and
encoding, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension and
building content knowledge, to ensure that all teachers have the
knowledge and skill to teach all students to read, including
students with dyslexia and other language-based learning
disabilities.
(d) Duties of department.--The Department of Education
shall:
(1) Select schools interested and committed to the
curricular, instructional and professional development
changes required for the program and create criteria for
selection for participation based on the number and
percentages of students scoring in the lowest two achievement
levels on State assessment for grades three and four, as well
as other district-initiated reading, screening and other
relevant data for kindergarten and grades one and two.
(2) Select an in-district teacher who has demonstrated
literacy success to work as a coach within each school to be
responsible for the faithful implementation of the program.
Additional support for all school district coaches will be
provided as part of the program as needed.
(e) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term
"science of reading" shall mean evidence-based instructional and
assessment practices that address the multimodal approach that
integrates listening, speaking, reading, spelling and writing in
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the acquisition of oral and written language skills that can be
differentiated to meet the needs of individual students.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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