15-704. Reading proficiency;
definitions
A. Each school district or charter school that provides instruction in kindergarten
programs and grades one through three shall select and administer screening, ongoing
diagnostic and classroom based instructional reading assessments, including a
motivational assessment, as defined by the state board of education, to monitor student
progress. Each school shall use the diagnostic information to plan appropriate and
effective intervention.
B. Each school district or charter school that provides instruction for pupils in
kindergarten programs and grades one through three shall conduct a curriculum evaluation
and adopt a scientifically based reading curriculum that includes the essential
components of reading instruction. All school districts and charter schools that offer
instruction in kindergarten programs and grades one through three shall provide ongoing
teacher training based on scientifically based reading research.
C. Each school district or charter school that provides instruction in kindergarten
programs and grades one through three shall devote reasonable amounts of time to explicit
instruction and independent reading in grades one through three.
D. A pupil in grade three who does not meet or exceed the reading standards
measured by the Arizona instrument to measure standards test administered pursuant to
section 15-741 shall be provided intensive reading instruction as defined by the state
board of education until the pupil meets these standards.
E. The governing board of each school district and the governing body of each
charter school shall determine the percentage of pupils at each school in grade three who
do not meet the reading standards prescribed by the state board of education and measured
by the Arizona instrument to measure standards test administered pursuant to section
15-741. If more than twenty per cent of students in grade three at either the individual
school level or at the school district level do not meet the standards, the governing
board or governing body shall conduct a review of its reading program that includes
curriculum and professional development in light of current, scientifically based reading
research.
F. Based on the review required in subsection E of this section, the governing
board or governing body and the school principal of each school that does not meet the
reading standards, in conjunction with school council members, if applicable, shall
develop methods of best practices for teaching reading based on essential components of
reading instruction and supported by scientifically based reading research. These methods
shall be adopted at a public meeting and shall be implemented the following academic
year.
G. Subsections E and F of this section shall be coordinated with efforts to develop
and implement an improvement plan if required pursuant to section 15-241.
H. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Essential components of reading instruction" means explicit and systematic
instruction in the following:
(a) Phonemic awareness.
(b) Phonics.
(c) Vocabulary development.
(d) Reading fluency.
(e) Reading comprehension.
2. "Reading" means a complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires
all of the following:
(a) The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes or speech sounds are
connected to print.
(b) The ability to decode unfamiliar words.
(c) The ability to read fluently.
(d) Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading
comprehension.
(e) The development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from
print.
(f) The development and maintenance of a motivation to read.
3. "Scientifically based reading research" means research that meets all of the
following:
(a) Applies rigorous, systematic and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge
relevant to reading development, reading instruction and reading difficulties.
(b) Employs systematic empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment.
(c) Involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses
and justify the general conclusions drawn.
(d) Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data across
evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations.
(e) Has been accepted by a peer reviewed journal or approved by a panel of
independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective and scientific review.
(f) Contains all of the elements of the essential components of reading
instruction.
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