S-5125

   Amend Senate File 2195 as follows:
   1.  By striking everything after the enacting clause and inserting: 
   <Section 1.  Section 256.16, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  m.  (1)  Administer an examination identical to the foundations of reading assessment administered in 2012 as part of the Massachusetts tests, or the most current version of such assessment.
   (2)  The higher education institution shall report to the department no later than August 1 annually, in the form and manner prescribed by the department, the percentage of students whose scores on the assessment administered during the prior school year were above, at, and below the passing score, and shall report any services or opportunities to retake the assessment the institution may make available to a student who fails the assessment. The department shall compile the reports submitted under this subparagraph and publish on the department’s internet site the compiled reports related to students enrolled in the practitioner preparation program who plan to teach in kindergarten through grade six.
   Sec. 2.  Section 279.68, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new paragraphs:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  c.  (1)  Each school district shall provide written notice to the parent or guardian of any student in kindergarten through grade six who is not reading proficiently of the student’s level of reading or reading readiness. The written notice shall contain a description of the parent’s or guardian’s ability to request that the student be retained in the student’s current grade level for the subsequent school year.
   (2)  A school district shall not promote a student who is not reading proficiently to the next grade level, and shall retain the student in the student’s current grade level for the subsequent school year, if the student’s parent or guardian submits to the school district a request that the student be retained in the student’s current grade level pursuant to subparagraph (1).
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  d.  A school district shall provide to students in kindergarten through the end of grade six who are not reading proficiently with personalized reading plans until the student is reading at grade level, as determined by the student’s consistently proficient performance on valid and reliable measures of reading ability.
   Sec. 3.  IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT.  Section 25B.2, subsection 3, shall not apply to this Act.>
   2.  Title page, by striking lines 1 through 6 and inserting <An Act relating to elementary literacy by modifying teacher preparation program requirements, requiring personalized reading plans for certain students, and providing parent and guardian discretion for their students to be retained at grade level.>

______________________________
KEN ROZENBOOM