Early Literacy Screening & Dyslexia

In Shoreline Schools, we believe in the power of literacy and the importance of learning to read for all students. In 2018 Washington state passed Statute 6162, also called the Early Literacy Bill or the Early Screening of Dyslexia Statute. As a result, Shoreline School District will screen students in Grades K-2 for weaknesses in literacy skill development that may be associated with dyslexia.

Screening

Shoreline conducts literacy screening for all students in grades K-2. A Literacy Screener is a short assessment given to all students to help us learn whether a student might have reading difficulty and need intervention, as well as to determine possible risk of dyslexia. In order to most effectively provide instruction and interventions, DIBELS 8 will be administered by the certificated classroom teacher of record.

Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, and Letter Sound Knowledge will be assessed each year in grades K-2 with DIBELS 8, per Shoreline’s Assessment Calendar.
Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is the ability to quickly name aloud a series of familiar items. The RAN/RAS assessment will be administered in winter of K and 1st grade, per OSPI recommendations. Please note that RAN skills cannot be pre-taught or remediated.

Difficulties with these four skill areas are associated with risk of dyslexia. None of the assessments Shoreline administers diagnoses dyslexia. Our assessments are designed to identify what students know, and what they don't know, in order to help us design instruction to meet students' needs.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is…

A difference in the brain that makes processing speech sounds difficult, specifically the ability to hear, substitute, and change individual sounds in words.
Characterized by challenges with reading and spelling, particularly with the connections between letters and sounds.
Likely to lead to problems learning and remembering vocabulary, understanding what is read, and getting thoughts on paper.
Not related to overall intelligence.
Not a visual problem or caused by a lack of motivation, interest, exposure to rich literature, or ineffective classroom instruction.

MTSS

Shoreline is implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) to provide different tiers of instruction and intervention based on students’ needs.

Data teams at schools will analyze screening reports to determine interventions.
For a student who shows areas of risk associated with dyslexia, data teams will discuss plans for using multi-tiered systems of support to provide intervention and monitor progress.

Multilingual Learners (MLLs) and Dual Language

Multilingual learners in Shoreline at all levels of English proficiency receive core instruction and assessment in the foundational skills of reading, in addition to literacy intervention as needed. All multilingual learners are screened using DIBELS 8, including those in the dual language program.

Per guidelines from OSPI, Multilingual learners (MLLs) in grades K-2 will be screened for risk associated with dyslexia once they meet the minimum threshold for English proficiency as measured by WIDA. By the conclusion of 2nd grade, MLLs who have had English instruction since kindergarten will be administered the RAN/RAS and included in screening for risk of dyslexia, regardless of English proficiency demonstrated on WIDA.

All students in Shoreline’s dual language program receive foundational skills instruction and participate in literacy screening in both English and Spanish.

Family/School Partnership

For a student who shows risks associated with dyslexia, the district is required to notify the student's family of the areas of weakness, as well as the plan for using MTSS to provide support and interventions. Families should always be engaged in decision-making and the school must regularly update the student's family of the student's progress.

One indicator that has been found to be highly predictive of future reading difficulty is a family history of difficulty with reading. It is helpful to know if your child has any biological family members who have also had difficulties with learning to read. This family history is not something we share, but it provides another layer of information that can help with planning reading support.

Families are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher if they ever have questions about how their child is doing with reading. The following links provide some resources for supporting reading at home.

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