Senate Bill 454, a massive overhaul of the reading readiness program, including new state mandates relating to screening, assessments, interventions, parental notifications and reporting requirements, has passed both houses of the state Legislature this week and now heads to Governor Evers to either be signed into law or vetoed.
The WASB opposes this bill on local control grounds because it is a very proscriptive, largely unfunded new assessment scheme that would require districts to scrap their current efforts no matter how much promise and/or results they are achieving.
Whether this bill is signed or vetoed, the WASB recognizes the need for improvement in student reading proficiency. We are open to continuing discussion about improving reading in Wisconsin schools and look forward to bringing stakeholders together to come up with a comprehensive plan everyone can get behind. Such a plan should properly recognize the need not only for screening and assessments but for additional curricular and instructional resources, as well as additional teacher professional development and instructional supports such as instructional coaches and resources for parent engagement efforts. A properly resourced approach should not overburden teachers in classrooms with disproportionate numbers of students with reading difficulties.
