Senate Bill S6400A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6400A

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the incorpo-
ration of structured, explicit, language and evidence-based approaches
to literacy instruction aligned with the science of reading into at
least three credits of the six credits of literacy courses currently
required for prospective teachers in accredited college of education
programs

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would require all required literacy classes for teachers to
include the structured multisensory approach.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 adds a new subdivision 57 to Section 305 of the Education Law
to provide that the State Education Department establish and enforce
rules and regulations required higher education institutions that offer
              

graduate or undergraduate degrees or certificates in education or educa-
tional administration to have at least a 3-credit course devoted to
instructional techniques for effective literacy instruction.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

A lot happens in the brain as we learn to read. Brain studies over the
last two and a half decades have confirmed that the brain is not
naturally "wired" for reading. According to renowned cognitive neuros-
cientist Maryanne Wolf, "Human beings were never born to read..." Rath-
er, "Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges
itself to learn something new" (see Proust and the Squid: the story and
science of the reading brain, 2007- New York:  HarperCollins).

Yet, the most prevalent reading curricula used in New York and the
United States, are based on the disproven assumption that children will
naturally learn to read because their brains are wired for reading. Our
consistently lackluster reading scores on standardized reading assess-
ments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),
a/k/a the "Nation's Report Card," demonstrate how this assumption has
led to persistent reading failure and underachievement for decades.

According to consistent NAEP results, only 38% of fourth graders read
proficiently. This means that 62% are not. They do not all have dysle-
xia. Too many of the children we fail to teach to read proficiently fuel
the school to prison pipeline, as studies from our prisons demonstrate.

However, reading does become an even more complicated and daunting task
when letters, sounds and numbers become mixed up. Approximately 15% of
children have dyslexia, a brain-based learning disability that makes
word recognition, spelling and reading success a very difficult task.
About 85% of children with learning disabilities have dyslexia making it
the most prevalent learning disability in children. Yet, most parents,
teachers, and administrators have trouble recognizing its symptoms.

Nevertheless, we do have solutions to ensure that more students can
learn to read, and it starts with how they are taught to read.  Students
without dyslexia need structured, evidence-based instruction in reading
that is consistent with the science of reading - a structured, sequen-
tial, multisensory approach. Students with dyslexia and related learning
disabilities need the same structured literacy approaches, but with more
intensive multisensory, language based educational interventions in
order to address their particular reading difficulties. Our teachers
must be familiar with these best practices, structured literacy
approaches in order to teach students to read, write and spell.

Every teacher needs to be a teacher of literacy. It is very important to
include coursework for prospective and continuing teachers on the teach-
ing of reading and writing. At least a 3-credit course should be devoted
to the instructional techniques necessary for effective literacy
instruction. All students benefit from structured, systematic, explicit,
evidence-based instruction in reading.  Prospective teachers need to be
instructed on how to teach the components recommended by the National
Reading Panel: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. They also need to know about language, all aspects of
language, and the connections between oral language and written
language. Teachers should also have instruction on how to explicitly
teach writing.  Prospective teachers need to be taught about assessment
and instruction.

This bill does not require that any particular reading curriculum be
adopted for use in colleges of education, but rather that teacher educa-
tors understand and be able to communicate that this is a perspective on
the teaching of literacy that has been clearly proven effective for
children of varying abilities from years of solid research and practice.
Assessment for screening, instructional planning and progress monitoring
should be an integral part of instruction and should be able to be
performed by the classroom teacher as well as the reading specialist.
Entitlement decisions for special education purposes are, of course,
made by an interdisciplinary team of professionals. When classroom
teachers can assess and teach and see the relationships between their
teaching and children's learning, they will better understand when and
how children are having difficulty and any referrals that may made to an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team will be more fully developed
and more helpful to the IEP team and the child.

Teachers need effective tools to do their jobs and unfortunately, our
schools of education haven't been giving our teachers-in-training the
tools they need to do this most important of jobs. According to the
National Center on Teacher Quality, the vast majority of New York's
colleges of education do not instruct their students in the science of
reading or expose them to the five pillars of reading as set out by the
NationalReadingPanelin2000.See, https://www.nctq.org/publications/2020-
Teacher-Prep-Review:ProgramPerformance-in-Early-Reading-Instruction In
fact, in 2020, only 8 teacher education programs in New York were given
an "A" rating.

The consequences of an inadequate education have a huge impact on our
society. Children need foundational skills in reading and writing to
become successful members of society. This legislation will improve
school learning conditions so that all children can have an equal oppor-
tunity to learn and become college and career ready. In the long run, it
will help save the state money and improve the lives of the students in
our state, including students with dyslexia and related learning disa-
bilities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S.6713 - Referred to Higher Education/A.4659 - Referred to
Higher Education

2021-2022: S.1376 - Referred to Higher Education/A.2217 - Referred to
Education

2019-2020: S.4342 - Referred to Higher Education/A.6450 - Referred to
Education

 
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.