Tennessee

State Education Agency (SEA) Dyslexia Legislation

Has Legislation?Yes

Parent Opt-Out/Consent Procedures by Law?
No
SEA Recognizes IDA Definition?
Yes
SEA Recognizes State Definition?
No
SEA Has Dyslexia Specialist?
No

HB2635, HB1735/SB2002, and PC1058

Public Chapter 1058 tasks the state department of education with developing procedures and regulations related to the screening and intervention of dyslexia. Related requirements (including professional development requirements) are also discussed.

Screening

Required?Yes

Parents Must Be Notified of Results?
Yes
SEA Publishes List of Screeners?
Yes
Annual Reporting to the SEA?
Yes
Response to Intervention for Student Learning Disability Eligibility in 2010?
Permitted by law
Severe Discrepancy for Student Learning Disability Eligibility in 2010?
Permitted by law
Student Learning Disability Eligibility (Zirkel & Thomas 2010 Classification)?
RTI and SD permitted

According to PC1058, "The dyslexia screening procedures shall include phonological and phonemic awareness, sound symbol recognition, alphabet knowledge, decoding  skills, rapid naming, and encoding skills. (3) The dyslexia screening procedures shall be implemented by every LEA. (4) Dyslexia screening may be requested for any student by the student's parent or guardian, teacher, counselor, or school psychologist."

State Recognized Screeners

AIMSweb, DIBELS 6th Edition, DIBELS Next, easyCBM, PALS-K, TOWRE-2,  Developmental Spelling Analysis, PASS, WIST, CTOPP-2, RAN/RAS, PAT-2, QRI-5, Words their Way, Development Spelling Assessment. See the state resource guide for grade-level requirements and test-content correspondences.

Pre-service

Required?No

Tennessee does not have pre-service legislation related to dyslexia.

In-service

Required?No

Tennessee does not have in-service legislation related to dyslexia.

Intervention

Required?Yes

Multisensory?
Required
Evidence-Based?
Required
Explicit/Direct?
Required
MTSS/RTI?
Required

State law states that "(c) If the dyslexia screening conducted by the LEA indicates that a student  has characteristics of dyslexia, the LEA shall: (1) Notify the student's parent or legal guardian; (2) Provide the student's parent or legal guardian with  information and resource material regarding dyslexia; (3) Provide the student with appropriate tiered dyslexia-specific intervention through its RTl framework; and (4) Monitor the student's progress using a tool designed to measure the effectiveness of the intervention." The state defines "Dyslexia-specific intervention" as evidence-based, specialized reading, writing, and spelling instruction that is multisensory in nature, equipping students to simultaneously use multiple senses, such as vision, hearing, touch, and movement. Dyslexia-specific intervention employs direct instruction of systematic and cumulative content, with the sequence beginning with the easiest and most basic elements and progress methodically to more difficult material. Each step must also be based on those already learned. Components of dyslexia-specific intervention include instruction targeting phonological awareness, sound symbol association, syllable structure,  morphology, syntax, and semantics.

Literacy State-identified Measurable Result (SIMR) - Part B

Has Literacy SIMR?Yes

The SMIR is to increase the percentage of students with Specific Learning Disabilities that score at least Basic on the state achievement tests for grades 3 - 8 in Reading Language Arts.

Resources

Tennessee Dyslexia Resource Guide

Decoding Dyslexia Tennessee

International Dyslexia Association Tennessee

Citations

Zirkel, P. A., & Thomas, L. B. (2010). State laws for RTI: An updated snapshot. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 56-63.

Gearin, B., Turtura, J., Kame’enui, E. J., Nelson, N. J., & Fien, H. (2018). A Multiple Streams Analysis of Recent Changes to State-Level Dyslexia Education Law. Educational Policy, 0895904818807328.

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Last modified: 
10/04/2022 - 1:32pm