Florida Senate - 2024                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for HB 1361
       
       
       
       
       
       
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                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                Floor: 1/AD/2R         .           Floor: CA            
             02/07/2024 10:29 AM       .      03/07/2024 12:25 PM       
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       Senator Yarborough moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 551 - 728
    4  and insert:
    5         (5) Administer the New Worlds Tutoring Program that
    6  supports school districts and schools in improving student
    7  achievement in reading and mathematics pursuant to s. 1008.366.
    8         Section 7. Paragraph (d) of subsection (5), paragraph (c)
    9  of subsection (6), and paragraph (c) of subsection (9) of
   10  section 1008.25, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   11         1008.25 Public school student progression; student support;
   12  coordinated screening and progress monitoring; reporting
   13  requirements.—
   14         (5) READING DEFICIENCY AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.—
   15         (d) The parent of any student who exhibits a substantial
   16  deficiency in reading, as described in paragraph (a), must be
   17  notified in writing of the following:
   18         1. That his or her child has been identified as having a
   19  substantial deficiency in reading, including a description and
   20  explanation, in terms understandable to the parent, of the exact
   21  nature of the student’s difficulty in learning and lack of
   22  achievement in reading.
   23         2. A description of the current services that are provided
   24  to the child.
   25         3. A description of the proposed intensive interventions
   26  and supports that will be provided to the child that are
   27  designed to remediate the identified area of reading deficiency.
   28         4. That if the child’s reading deficiency is not remediated
   29  by the end of grade 3, the child must be retained unless he or
   30  she is exempt from mandatory retention for good cause.
   31         5. Strategies, including multisensory strategies and
   32  programming, through a read-at-home plan the parent can use in
   33  helping his or her child succeed in reading. The read-at-home
   34  plan must provide access to the resources identified in
   35  paragraph (e) (f).
   36         6. That the statewide, standardized English Language Arts
   37  assessment is not the sole determiner of promotion and that
   38  additional evaluations, portfolio reviews, and assessments are
   39  available to the child to assist parents and the school district
   40  in knowing when a child is reading at or above grade level and
   41  ready for grade promotion.
   42         7. The district’s specific criteria and policies for a
   43  portfolio as provided in subparagraph (7)(b)4. and the evidence
   44  required for a student to demonstrate mastery of Florida’s
   45  academic standards for English Language Arts. A school must
   46  immediately begin collecting evidence for a portfolio when a
   47  student in grade 3 is identified as being at risk of retention
   48  or upon the request of the parent, whichever occurs first.
   49         8. The district’s specific criteria and policies for
   50  midyear promotion. Midyear promotion means promotion of a
   51  retained student at any time during the year of retention once
   52  the student has demonstrated ability to read at grade level.
   53         9. Information about the student’s eligibility for the New
   54  Worlds Reading Initiative under s. 1003.485 and the New Worlds
   55  Scholarship Accounts under s. 1002.411 and information on parent
   56  training modules and other reading engagement resources
   57  available through the initiative.
   58  
   59  After initial notification, the school shall apprise the parent
   60  at least monthly of the student’s progress in response to the
   61  intensive interventions and supports. Such communications must
   62  be in writing and must explain any additional interventions or
   63  supports that will be implemented to accelerate the student’s
   64  progress if the interventions and supports already being
   65  implemented have not resulted in improvement.
   66         (6) MATHEMATICS DEFICIENCY AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.—
   67         (c) The parent of a student who exhibits a substantial
   68  deficiency in mathematics, as described in paragraph (a), must
   69  be notified in writing of the following:
   70         1. That his or her child has been identified as having a
   71  substantial deficiency in mathematics, including a description
   72  and explanation, in terms understandable to the parent, of the
   73  exact nature of the student’s difficulty in learning and lack of
   74  achievement in mathematics.
   75         2. A description of the current services that are provided
   76  to the child.
   77         3. A description of the proposed intensive interventions
   78  and supports that will be provided to the child that are
   79  designed to remediate the identified area of mathematics
   80  deficiency.
   81         4. Strategies, including multisensory strategies and
   82  programming, through a home-based plan the parent can use in
   83  helping his or her child succeed in mathematics. The home-based
   84  plan must provide access to the resources identified in
   85  paragraph (d) (e).
   86  
   87  After the initial notification, the school shall apprise the
   88  parent at least monthly of the student’s progress in response to
   89  the intensive interventions and supports. Such communications
   90  must be in writing and must explain any additional interventions
   91  or supports that will be implemented to accelerate the student’s
   92  progress if the interventions and supports already being
   93  implemented have not resulted in improvement.
   94         (9) COORDINATED SCREENING AND PROGRESS MONITORING SYSTEM.—
   95         (c) To facilitate timely interventions and supports
   96  pursuant to subsection (4), the system must provide results from
   97  the first two administrations of the progress monitoring to a
   98  student’s teacher or prekindergarten instructor within 1 week
   99  and to the student’s parent within 2 weeks after of the
  100  administration of the progress monitoring. Delivery of results
  101  from the comprehensive, end-of-year progress monitoring ELA
  102  assessment for grades 3 through 10 and Mathematics assessment
  103  for grades 3 through 8 must be in accordance with s.
  104  1008.22(7)(h).
  105         1. A student’s results from the coordinated screening and
  106  progress monitoring system must be recorded in a written, easy
  107  to-comprehend individual student report. Each school district
  108  shall provide a parent secure access to his or her child’s
  109  individual student reports through a web-based portal as part of
  110  its student information system. Each early learning coalition
  111  shall provide parents the individual student report in a format
  112  determined by state board rule.
  113         2. In addition to the information under subparagraph (a)5.,
  114  the report must also include parent resources that explain the
  115  purpose of progress monitoring, assist the parent in
  116  interpreting progress monitoring results, and support informed
  117  parent involvement. Parent resources may include personalized
  118  video formats.
  119         3. The department shall annually update school districts
  120  and early learning coalitions on new system features and
  121  functionality and collaboratively identify with school districts
  122  and early learning coalitions strategies for meaningfully
  123  reporting to parents results from the coordinated screening and
  124  progress monitoring system. The department shall develop ways to
  125  increase the utilization, by instructional staff and parents, of
  126  student assessment data and resources.
  127         4. An individual student report must be provided in a
  128  printed format upon a parent’s request.
  129         Section 8. Section 1008.366, Florida Statutes, is created
  130  to read:
  131         1008.366The New Worlds Tutoring Program.—
  132         (1)The New Worlds Tutoring Program is created to support
  133  school districts and schools in improving student achievement in
  134  reading and mathematics by:
  135         (a)Providing best practice science of reading guidelines
  136  for districts in consultation with the Just Read, Florida!
  137  Office.
  138         (b)Providing best practice guidelines for mathematics
  139  tutoring in alignment with Florida’s Benchmarks for Excellent
  140  Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards for mathematics.
  141         (c)Establishing minimum standards that each school
  142  district must meet to participate in the program. The minimum
  143  standards must address:
  144         1.Appropriate group sizes for tutoring sessions.
  145         2.The frequency and duration of tutoring sessions.
  146         3.Minimum staffing qualifications for tutors.
  147         4.The use of ongoing, informal and formal assessments to
  148  target instructional interventions.
  149         5.Prioritization strategies for tutoring students.
  150         (d)Providing access during the school day to additional
  151  literacy or mathematics support through evidence-based automated
  152  literacy tutoring software that provides each student with real
  153  time interventions that are based in science of reading
  154  principles or mathematics instructional best practices and
  155  individually tailored to the needs and ability of each student.
  156  Access shall be provided to students in kindergarten through
  157  grade 5 enrolled in a public school who have a substantial
  158  deficiency in reading or mathematics in accordance with s.
  159  1008.25. The term “evidence-based” has the same meaning as in s.
  160  1003.4201(6).
  161         (e)Awarding grants to school districts that may be used
  162  for stipends for in-person tutoring during the school day,
  163  before and after school, or during a summer program. In-person
  164  tutoring may be provided to, at a minimum, kindergarten through
  165  grade 5 students enrolled in a public school who have a
  166  substantial deficiency in reading or mathematics in accordance
  167  with s. 1008.25. To identify eligible students, the department
  168  shall provide the administrator with mathematics and reading
  169  progress monitoring data for eligible kindergarten through grade
  170  12 students within 30 days after the close of each progress
  171  monitoring period.
  172         (f)Providing technical assistance and professional
  173  learning to school districts, including:
  174         1.Advising district staff on tutoring program design and
  175  intervention selection upon request.
  176         2.Assisting districts in reviewing tutoring programs,
  177  professional learning programs, curriculum, and resources to
  178  ensure that they adhere to the science of reading or best
  179  practices in mathematics.
  180         3.Providing professional learning to district staff to
  181  build their knowledge and skills around the science of reading
  182  or best practices in mathematics.
  183         (2)Annually, by July 1, the administrator of the New
  184  Worlds Tutoring Program shall provide to
  185  
  186  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  187  And the title is amended as follows:
  188         Delete lines 45 - 49
  189  and insert:
  190         creating the New Worlds Tutoring Program to provide
  191         specified academic support for students; providing the
  192         purpose of the program; requiring the administrator of
  193         the program to annually