Use screening tools and resources that exemplify best practice: SVSD uses primary and secondary screeners to determine strengths and weaknesses in a child’s literacy development.  The following are skills to be assessed through literacy screening: oral language, alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness (phonemes and graphemes), fluency, vocabulary. In addition, literacy screeners help to assess how well students are responding to core instruction and if a student is at risk, or not at risk, for reduced learning outcomes and identify the level of support each student needs to be successful. Guidelines for the SVSD Universal Screening process were taken from information provided by the International Dyslexia Association: https://app.box.com/s/dlwc9359ba6dz89bi0i3pzsbvmithatc

• State-Approved Primary Screeners:
• Acadience for Kindergarten- 2nd  grade
• Renaissance STAR Reading for 3rd -5th grade
• Secondary Screener:
• Phonemic Awareness Assessment, Phonics & Phonics Intervention Screener from 95% Group for K- 2nd grade
• Acadience for 3rd -5th grade
• All Students who score below the 40 percentile on the primary screeners are given an additional, secondary screener. These assessments give additional data points in the following areas: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, rapid automatized naming skills (phonological memory), and letter-sound knowledge, which can help to identify students who show indications of, or areas associated with dyslexia. 
• Elementary Instructional Coaches and Literacy Language Specialists received training about dyslexia and how to identify struggling readers, using data/screening assessments.
• K-2 teachers will receive LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training around how to support struggling readers, including those with indications of, or areas of weakness associated with, dyslexia, using data from the screening assessments.

Create a MTSS model that provides tiered interventions to support struggling students, including students who display indications of, or areas of weakness associated with dyslexia. Research and strategies to utilize a multi-tier intervention framework to help identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement were pulled from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/3. 

• All elementary schools have a MTSS model with explicitly identified interventions, within each Tier. The model is supported through the master schedule, ensuring all students have access to core instruction.
• Students who have not been given the opportunity to experience success with a program that delivers critical components of literacy instruction could exhibit the characteristics of dyslexia simply by virtue of inadequate instruction. Therefore, our schools have a comprehensive literacy program aligned with the Common Core State Standards and with current scientific reading research.
• Elementary staff were trained on the topic of dyslexia and intervention implementation (MTSS) within a three-tiered reading system.

• Tier I: Core Curriculum: ReadyGEN, guided reading practices, 95% phonics, and phonemic awareness K-2. Additionally, to support Tier I and II instruction, we are:
• Creating professional development for teachers using multi-sensory reading instructional strategies 
• Providing multi-sensory tools and resources to support effective Tier I interventions within classroom instruction, specifically in the area of dyslexia/ reading difficulties
• Continuing to provide training on effective foundational literacy instruction and instructional routines used to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency for all K-2 teachers
• Tier II:  WIN Reading Support: 95% Intervention, Heggerty, Literacy Footprints, Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI), Wilson Fundations (multi-sensory)  
• Tier III: Special Education: Wilson Reading System, Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing (LIPS)

• Interventions include evidence-based multisensory structured literacy interventions, which are provided by an educator (Literacy Specialist) trained in instructional methods specifically targeting students' areas of weakness. 

• Literacy Specialists, Special Education teachers, and paraeducators receive professional development in the selected interventions. 
• Literacy Specialists and Special Education teachers continue to learn about dyslexia and how to support struggling readers using a multi-sensory approach to teaching and learning.

The school district will regularly update parents of the student’s progress:  

• Progress will be communicated by the teacher who supports the student’s current level of intervention
• Parents will have access to information materials on dyslexia, provided by OSPI
• Parent workshops will be held on how to support and motivate struggling readers, through WIN Reading and Student Services
• OSPI: https://www.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/workgroups-committees/currently-meeting-workgroups/washington-state-dyslexia-advisory-council/about-dyslexia