EARLY LITERACY AND dyslexia

In 2018 the Washington State Legislature passed E2SSB 6162, establishing a state definition of dyslexia and directing schools to develop and implement a plan for addressing the needs of students with dyslexia or reading challenges consistent with dyslexia. 

In the Spring of 2021, the Peninsula School District elementary principals and Kindergarten through 2nd grade teachers  engaged in a series of professional learning opportunities on the Science of Reading. District administrators also participated in the Dyslexia and Early Screening Professional Learning Community through the Puget Sound Educational Service District.

In addition to the Science of Reading training, PSD has implemented  a multi-tiered system of support for elementary students in the areas of reading and social emotional learning. The goal of this system is to remove academic, behavioral, and social-emotional barriers that impede students’ success in the classroom. We refer to this system as a Multi-Tiered System of Support. Read here for more information.

The Peninsula School District conducts a literacy screener for all K-2 students. A literacy screener is a short assessment given to all students to help us learn whether a student might have a reading difficulty associated with dyslexia, prompting additional assessment.

To learn more about our literacy screener please click here.

For information from the state of Washington (OSPI) on literacy screening please see the following Educational Information for Parents and Families, available in multiple languages here. 

Additional information is available through OSPI in a Dyslexia Fact Sheet and their dyslexia web page.

Early Literacy Screener FAQ

It is important for educators and families to be able to talk about early literacy difficulties.  

Identifying learning needs and working together to support and intervene early is the best way to prevent problems from becoming more severe over time. OSPI has provided two guides to help families and teachers have these discussions during conferences or other meetings.
 
The Family and Caregiver Discussion Guide is available here, and also available in multiple languages here.
 
The Educator Discussion Guide is available here.

Assessments

For early identification of learning difficulties associated with dyslexia, PSD will use screening assessments and academic diagnostic/placement assessments three times per year.

Screening Assessments (Screeners)

Purpose: to quickly identify students that MAY have a significant difficulty in the area being assessed.

• DIBELS Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (measures how students hear sounds).
• DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency (measures how efficiently students know the letter names).
• DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency (measures if the student knows the letter sounds and if they can blend the sounds to make words).
• DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (measures how fluently a student reads words in a passage).
• i-Ready Rapid Automatic Naming (assessed in winter of kindergarten and first grade).

DIBELS  is a state approved assessment in compliance with E2SSB 6162.