Welcome back to another episode of Educational Awareness. In this episode we will dig into section 8 of SEA No. 1. This section covers part of the summer school requirements for students who do not pass IREAD. Additional summer school requirements are listed in section 7.

                  Let’s look at what section 8 says starting with part b.

Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, a school will offer summer school courses designated by the department to support students in:

Grade 2 who are at risk of not being reading proficient and

Grade 3 who are not reading proficient; as indicated on the determinant evaluation of reading skills (IREAD) approved by the state board.

                  This is nothing new for most schools in Indiana. Generally, summer school is offered to students in grades K-3 who are performing below grade level in reading and math. Schools use the student’s performance on standardized and local assessments to determine their need for summer school remediation. Since the implementation of IREAD summer school and retaking the IREAD assessment has been a requirement for students who did not pass in the spring.

                  Part C covers the curriculum and teacher qualifications for summer school instruction.

Summer school must:

Be taught by a teacher, instructor, or tutor who is trained in the science of reading as determined by the department; and

Use curriculum or intervention materials aligned with the science of reading.

                  This section ensures students are provided quality remediation in reading. Educators and parents do not have an issue with this. The only sticking point is that only a teacher trained in the science of reading can teach summer school. Which means only a teacher who has completed the 80 hours of professional development from the state can teach summer school. That takes time and will most likely not happen before summer school in 2024-2025. Meaning schools will not have educators to provide summer remediation to these students. Unless the state gets rid of this, required training, as I hope they do.

                  Finally, let’s look at Part D.

If a student described in subsection (b) (those who did not pass IREAD) does not achieve at least 90% attendance rate in a summer reading course described in subsection (b), the student shall participate in an individual reading plan aligned with the science of reading in the following school year.

                  I want to point out that summer school is offered. Parents still have the right to turn down summer school for their child. Parents also determine their child’s attendance rate, which becomes increasingly difficult without bus transportation, because most parents are working when summer school releases at noon every day.

                  Schools cannot ensure the 90% attendance rate and they face a penalty for it. An individual reading plan means one-on-one instruction. Don’t get me wrong, this is fantastic, especially for a struggling student, but let’s get real about the logistics. Schools do not have the funding or manpower to provide individual instruction, especially in our larger school districts.

                  To be compliant, this is what will happen. An interventionist normally takes six students at a time for 30 minutes to work on their reading deficiencies. For this example, let’s say a school has 3 interventionists who work with 2 small groups per grade level. That is, a total of 36 students receiving reading remediation in one grade level. With individual instruction, that decreases to 6 students for each grade level.

                  What does this mean? Students who are borderline in their reading skills will not receive the interventions they need. Which, in turn, means their reading skills gap will continue to grow, when they could have had the chance to catch up before falling further behind.

                  Section 8 has good intentions. I am all for early intervention and helping students find success in reading. Again, it is apparent that legislators are not aware of the logistics of instruction. We all want quality education for our children, so let’s come to the table and talk.