Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS): Comprehensive Centers Program: National Comprehensive Center on Improving Literacy for Students with Disabilities

Overview

<p><span>Establish a National Comprehensive Center on Improving Literacy for Students with Disabilities (the Center) for children in early childhood education programs through high school. The comprehensive center must: (a) Identify or develop free or low-cost evidence-based assessment tools for identifying students at risk of not attaining full literacy skills due to a disability, including dyslexia impacting reading or writing, or developmental delay impacting reading, writing, language processing, comprehension, or executive functioning; (b) Identify evidence-based literacy instruction, strategies, and accommodations, including assistive technology, designed to meet the specific needs of such students; (c) Provide families of such students with information to assist such students, and as part of this activity, the Center should plan to collaborate with the parent training and information and community parent resource centers funded by the Department of Education (the Department), Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) (e.g., Center for Parent Information and Resources, and Parent Technical Assistance Centers); (d) Identify or develop evidence-based professional development for teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, other school leaders, and specialized instructional support personnel to— (1) Understand early indicators of students at risk of not attaining full literacy skills due to a disability, including dyslexia impacting reading or writing, or developmental delay impacting reading, writing, language processing, comprehension, or executive functioning; (2) Use evidence-based screening assessments for early identification of such students beginning not later than kindergarten; and (3) Implement evidence-based instruction designed to meet the specific needs of such students; and (d) Disseminate the products of the comprehensive center to regionally diverse State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), regional educational agencies, and schools, including, as appropriate, through partnerships with other comprehensive centers established under section 203 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9602), regional educational laboratories established under section 174 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9564), and OSEP and other related federally-funded technical assistance centers.</span></p>