Are Districts Required to Give Parents Literacy Screening Results and Tell Them About Progress Monitoring in Pennsylvania?

[AM23]

I'm in Pennsylvania and am looking for answers to the questions below. My son's 2e and in 8th grade.

• Are districts required to give parents the results of literacy screenings like DIBELS? In our situation, the district didn't, and we got them through a FERPA request last summer. We had significant concerns about our son's reading and still do. The early deficits that showed up on DIBELS are still there  in phonemic and phonological awareness and decoding. My son can read a few pages if he has to, but there are clear gaps in skills if you dig just a little below the surface. (Reading is tiring, and he adds,  skips and rearranges words, letters, and sounds.) Most standardized tests don't seem to require reading a lot of text at one time. The gaps show up more obviously in his writing. My son is in 8th grade, so it's also possible that districts share screening results now, but didn't have to 6 or 7 years ago. 
   
• Through our FERPA request, we also found out that my son was being progress monitored in 1st and 2nd, and we were not told about this prior to this past summer. This is in the context of me telling my son's teachers that he'd become very upset and refuse (couldn't)  to read or write at home, and I had significant concerns about this. I'm correct that parents should be informed of progress monitoring, right? 
   
• Can I use the DIBELS scores and progress monitoring as data to help show his current IEP  does not match him and what he needs and to provide history of reading struggles? How much weight will info have in making my case?  My son currently qualifies for his IEP under Autism. His only goal currently is a self-advocacy goal, so I'm gathering data to get new evals to show needs in writing and reading.

 

Thanks.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I will preface this with the fact that I am not in Pennsylvania (although in general, my expertise is dyslexia), but I know of many others on this site who are in PA and may have better info.  However, I did some cursory research and here are my responses based on my limited knowledge of PA law and my knowledge of special education law in general:

1.  It appears that it the current law in PA requires school district to provide parents the results of literacy screenings, but I would assume it was at least the expectation 6 or 7 years ago.  Those early results would be helpful in making a "child find" complaint and arguing something should have been done years ago.  If the deficits in phonemic and phonological awareness and decoding are, as you state, still there, has he been given a special education evaluation in the area of academics?  If so, what were the reasons for denying eligibility?  If not, I would request one so that you have clear evidence of this gap in underlying skills which would hopefully lead to eligibility in reading (and perhaps writing)  and the receipt of specialized instruction.

2.  If he was being progress monitored, that means he was in tiered intervention, correct?  If so, yes, you should have received the results of his progress monitoring pursuant to any interventions he was in.

3.  If you are referring to "old" data from 1st and 2nd grade, this data is good for making a complaint that the school district violated "child find" (see #1 above).  It is also data, as you point out, that he has had a history of reading struggles.  However, you may need some recent data to get an evaluation.  If they are denying your request for an evaluation in the area of academics, could you ask them to do a brief screener in phonological awareness and phonics to see if deficits show up in underlying skills that would warrant an evaluation?  That's a reasonable request and it's easy to do.  If they won't, could your pediatrician do one?  Another option is to request an IEE because the school district didn't evaluate in all areas of suspected disabilities during the last evaluation.  This could prompt them to do their own.

[JSD24]

I am in PA & sharing info like this would be best practice.  I know my district uses DIBELS but I don't remember getting the results for any of my children.  (They graduated HS in 2015, 2022 and 2022.)  As far as what's required, your best bet is to contact the ConsultLine.  https://odr-pa.org/consultline-contact/  They can be called or emailed & get back to you in a few days.

2E students can be hard to identify.  Going back 8 years, I'm pretty sure there was no requirement to tell parents if a student was getting RTI or MTSS.  Title 1 comes with a requirement for parent engagement.  If the progress monitoring showed he caught up with receiving RTI or MTSS, the school did their job.  I agree that asking for an IEE is a good idea.  I have a feeling the school's reply might be due process because he's gifted and succeeding in school - so be prepared for that.

I've found that gifted students with autism will tend to have social skills & pragmatics as areas of need so make sure those are evaluated.  Also, gifted students can be good at masking.  This could be part of the Child Find issues with what looks like SLD in reading.  Do mention masking when you ask for an IEE.  You can do a phonics screener.  There are instructions on this page:  https://spencerlearning.com/ultimate-phonics/resources/free-phonics-reading-test.html  Given his age, make a copy of a few pages in one of his text books (most screeners are for younger kids) and have him read them aloud.  Pick something he's not read before.  You could use a newspaper - they are written on around a 5th grade level.  Circle the words he misspeaks on your copy.  Cross out words he skips.  This is data you can share with the school.  When my gifted child who has autism was in 9th grade, they were reading at a college level.  I'd expect a gifted student to be reading a grade or 2 above their grade level.

PSSAs & Keystones have passages that might be a page or 2.  They are not tests for endurance that would be needed in many college classes.