Policy and Advocacy

Policy and Advocacy

Julie Collins

Oklahoma Education Legislative, Policy, and Advocacy Updates

Oklahoma and the nation have nearly completed the 2022 election cycle. Many of you, like me, may feel exhausted after reading about candidates, watching debates, discussing with friends and family, and watching all the commercials!

Oklahoma will experience a change in leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Education as Ryan Walters, current Secretary of Education, will become the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction in January 2023. Based on his statements made during his campaign, he will institute some big changes. I encourage you to keep up with the OSDE website (www.sde.ok.gov) and the local news for updates.

Members of the 1st Session of the 59th Legislature have been elected and sworn into office. They are now getting down to business for Oklahoma. Proposed legislation is being added to the Oklahoma Legislature website (www.oklegislature.gov). The legislative session will begin on Monday, February 6th . At the time of the writing of this column, only twelve bill proposals had been filed in each of the two chambers. The only proposal listed at this time affecting school curriculum is Senate Bill 2 by Senator Dahm. This bill proposes that public schools and higher education institutions shall disseminate 5 historic proclamations regarding the Thanksgiving holiday. You can read the text of the bill here.

One piece of legislation that we should watch for this spring will be from Representative Jacob Rosecrants. He represents HD 46 and is the author of the Play to Learn Act in 2021. He is planning to follow that law with a bill requiring minimum amounts of recess for children. Watch for more information as that bill is posted and follow it through the legislative process.

Dyslexia

Based on House Bill 2804, passed in 2020, this school year, 2022-2023, is the first year requiring students across the state in kindergarten through third grade be screened for characteristics of dyslexia if they are not meeting grade-level targets in reading based on beginning of the year Reading Sufficiency Act assessment results. Screening for dyslexia may also be requested by a parent or guardian or certain school personnel. You can find the complete text of the enrolled version of the bill here.

The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved assessments to screen for these components of dyslexia: phonological awareness, advanced phonemic awareness, sound-symbol recognition, alphabet knowledge, decoding skills, encoding skills, rapid naming, and

developmental language. Districts will report data regarding the implementation of the screening, as well as the identification of students and interventions provided, annually to the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) beginning in June 2023.

You can access resources regarding dyslexia and this screening process on the OSDE website:

Approved Dyslexia Screening Assessments

OSDE Dyslexia Resources

Dr. Julie Collins enjoyed all of her literacy experiences in Oklahoma City, Norman, and Putnam City Public Schools and at the OSDE, before becoming a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma. She can be contacted at JCollins18@uco.edu.