Directs the commissioner of education to conduct an audit regarding literacy instruction at institutions of higher education that offers a graduate or undergraduate degree or certification program in education or educational administration located within the state.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8924
SPONSOR: Simon TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to authorizing the commissioner of education to
conduct an audit regarding literacy instruction within the state
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Authorizes the Commissioner of Education to conduct a program audit
regarding literacy instruction at institutions of higher education.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. The commissioner of education is authorized and directed to
conduct a program audit regarding instruction on literacy within the
state.
§ 2. A. For each postsecondary institution survey questions shall:
identify which undergraduate and/or graduate degree or certification
program in education or educational administration covers instruction in
the core components of reading, characterized as the five pillars of
reading by the national reading panel;
b. assesses the extent to which each such program covers the science of
reading; and
c. evaluates to what extent such program adequately prepares students on
best practices and techniques for using structured literacy in the
classroom.
§ 3. Each audit shall also require an attestation by each institution
indicating that the responsible party or parties have surveyed each
undergraduate and/or graduate degree or certification program in educa-
tion or educational administration of each institution.
§ 4. Findings shall include detailed results of the audit, the extent
that the survey data submitted demonstrates compliance with the learning
standards of instruction for effective literary instruction.
§ 5. For purposes of this act "Learning standards for instruction neces-
sary for effective literacy instruction" include literacy courses
offered by an institution that are training students in language-based,
effective methods of teaching reading, which include instruction in
delivering structured literacy.
JUSTIFICATION:
There has been a lot of discussion of dyslexia and related learning
disorders of late and our struggling readers deserve our attention and
deserve to be taught to read using evidence-based strategies and curric-
ula. However, our schools have been doing an inadequate job of teaching
our kids to read, period. That burden falls more heavily on black and
brown students. This failure has led to persistently low performance
only between 35-38% of New York's fourth graders read proficiently on
the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), commonly referred
to as the "Nation's Report Card". This failure has led to troubling high
school dropout rates, under-employment, and for far too many, involve-
ment with the criminal justice system.
In June 2023, the National Council on Teacher Quality released its
updated report on teacher preparation programs: TEACHER PREP REVIEW -
Strengthening Elementary Reading Instruction
HTTPS://WWW.NCTCR.ORG/REVIEW/STANDARD/READING- FOUNDATIONS It's clear,
our colleges of education have not been teaching their students how to
teach reading to children. Instead, they have been teaching long-de-
bunked methods that don't work, building a false sense of competence in
our new teachers and sending them off into classrooms woefully underpre-
pared for the most critical educational task at hand - teaching our kids
to read. We are failing our teachers in training, and we are failing our
children. We can fix this. This program audit will help reveal how.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Minimal
EFFECTIVE DATE:
this act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8924
IN ASSEMBLY
January 29, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, GLICK, SAYEGH -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT in relation to authorizing the commissioner of education to
conduct an audit regarding literacy instruction within the state
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "so all can
2 read act".
3 § 2. The commissioner of education is authorized and directed to
4 develop an auditing process that clearly documents the degree to which
5 every educator preparation program at an institution of higher education
6 is effectively teaching the science of reading by conducting an audit on
7 literacy instruction at every institution of higher education that
8 offers a graduate or undergraduate degree or certification program in
9 education or educational administration located within the state. Such
10 audit shall include, as appropriate, questions on how such institutions
11 are meeting the learning standards for instruction necessary for effec-
12 tive literacy instruction within the current required literacy education
13 curriculum. All programs shall be reviewed every four years thereafter
14 to ensure continued alignment with the science of reading.
15 § 3. For each postsecondary institution, audit questions shall:
16 (a) identify which undergraduate and/or graduate degree or certif-
17 ication program in education or educational administration sufficiently
18 covers instruction in core components, characterized as the five pillars
19 of reading by the National Reading Panel of the National Academy of
20 Sciences in 2000, namely phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency,
21 vocabulary, and comprehension, and assess how fully and in-depth each
22 such program covers instruction as to each core component or pillar of
23 reading in substantial alignment with the reading foundation standards
24 utilized by the National Council on Teacher Quality in its 2023 report
25 on strengthening elementary reading instruction;
26 (b) assess the extent to which each such program covers the knowledge
27 and skills needed to understand and convey direct and explicit
28 language-based instruction in reading that is consistent with research-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11787-04-4
A. 8924 2
1 based effective methods of teaching reading, including but not limited
2 to:
3 (1) phonology and phonemic awareness, and how to develop such aware-
4 ness including evidence about moving rapidly from phonemes and connect-
5 ing them to the relevant grapheme;
6 (2) alphabetic principle, orthographic mapping and an understanding of
7 the processes the brain uses for developing reading, syllables and
8 morphology and why they are important for both decoding and vocabulary;
9 (3) sound-symbol correspondences and explicit, systematic phonics to
10 develop automaticity and fluency;
11 (4) syntax and text structure to support comprehension and comprehen-
12 sion strategies including question asking and answering, inference, and
13 summarizing;
14 (5) building background knowledge;
15 (6) English language development focused on developing oral language
16 which necessitates attention to those sounds in the home language that
17 are not transferable and thus need increased explicit instruction, as
18 well as syntax and grammar;
19 (7) developing an understanding of English varieties from general
20 standard English and imparting the linguistic structure of dialects of
21 the English language and ways to develop translanguaging and addressing
22 phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics;
23 (8) how to use and interpret universal screeners and progress monitor-
24 ing tools as well as understanding diagnostics;
25 (9) elements of instruction that are effective, including modeling (I
26 do), guided practice (we do) and application (you do); and
27 (10) awareness that scientific evidence is randomized experimental and
28 quasi-experimental studies, confirmed and replicated, and peer-reviewed
29 studies;
30 (c) evaluate to what extent such program adequately prepares students
31 on how to incorporate best practices and techniques of structured liter-
32 acy in the classroom;
33 (d) evaluate to what extent each program currently teaches methods or
34 strategies or otherwise uses instructional materials, including but not
35 limited to, textbooks that are reliant on approaches which research has
36 shown are ineffective, including three-cueing, leveled texts, miscue
37 analysis, units of study, reading workshops, embedded or implicit phon-
38 ics, or the over-reliance on assessment tools such as running records,
39 developmental reading assessment or qualitative reading inventory; and
40 (e) evaluate the extent to which a program addresses the use of
41 research-based effective methods of teaching reading, including struc-
42 tured literacy with various populations, including but not limited to
43 students with learning disabilities (such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and
44 dyscalculia) and English language learners.
45 § 4. Each audit shall also require an attestation from each institu-
46 tion indicating that the responsible party or parties have surveyed the
47 undergraduate and/or graduate degree or certification program in educa-
48 tion or educational administration at each such institution for the
49 areas listed in section two of this act and the extent to which learning
50 standards for instruction necessary for effective literacy instruction
51 is provided in each such program's courses to achieve adequate competen-
52 cy of the body of knowledge and sufficient practice needed for pre-ser-
53 vice educators studying any level of P-12 education or educational
54 administration.
55 § 5. Findings shall include detailed results of the audit, the extent
56 that the audit data submitted demonstrates compliance with the learning
A. 8924 3
1 standards of instruction necessary for effective literacy instruction,
2 and, if needed, recommendations to strengthen the provisions of law
3 related to literacy instruction if such standards of instruction are not
4 being met. Such findings shall be submitted for approval by the commis-
5 sioner of education in a timeframe, and form and format, acceptable to
6 the commissioner. A report of the findings of such audit shall be deliv-
7 ered to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker
8 of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate, and the minority
9 leader of the assembly no later than the first of January following the
10 effective date of this act, or one hundred fifty days after the effec-
11 tive date of this act, whichever is later.
12 § 6. For purposes of this act, "learning standards for instruction
13 necessary for effective literacy instruction" include literary courses
14 offered by an institution that are training students in language-based,
15 effective methods of teaching reading, which include instruction in
16 delivering structured, systematic, explicit, evidence-based direct
17 instruction in reading, also known as structured literacy.
18 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
