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State Board of Education kicks off rulemaking for new reading retention law

The step is a largely administrative and helps align new laws to existing Indiana code.
The step is a largely administrative and helps align new laws to existing Indiana code.

The Indiana State Board of Education voted last week to begin rulemaking for a  new literacy law recently passed by state lawmakers. The process will integrate  Senate Enrolled Act 1 into the state’s current education policy.

Lawmakers passed measures this year to  retain students who  fail the state’s reading test and provide those students with more support.

Now, the State Board of Education must adopt the law. The step is a largely administrative and helps align new laws to existing Indiana code.

The board started that process last week with a  resolution directing the Indiana Department of Education to use the universal reading screener in grade two to identify and help students who struggle with reading. The resolution also requires IDOE to determine how to administer the  IREAD-3 exam to all second graders, support locally-designed summer school reading programs and codify the state’s new third grade retention policy — and  its exemptions.

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There will be at least one public comment period before the board adopts the final rule. The IDOE said the process will likely be simple and straightforward.

Kirsten is our education reporter. Contact her at  kadair@wfyi.org  or follow her on Twitter at  @kirsten_adair .

Kirsten Adair grew up in Greentown, Indiana and graduated from Butler University's College of Communication with a degree in journalism. Before coming to IPB News, Adair was a news reporter at The Kokomo Perspective and Logansport Pharos-Tribune in north-central Indiana. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and cuddling with her two cats.