A. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education enter into a contract with a nonprofit education center which is certified as a multisensory structured language training institute for the purpose of establishing a comprehensive dyslexia teacher training pilot program. Implementation of the pilot program shall be contingent upon the pilot program contractor securing grant funding for the purpose of implementing a higher education multisensory structured reading instruction training project. The Regents shall oversee the pilot program and, working with the pilot program contractor, shall select not more than two institutions within The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education to participate in the pilot program. The pilot program contractor, using grant funding, shall implement and coordinate the pilot program, provide the salary of pilot program coordinators, and provide the training, resources and curriculum materials for the pilot program. If other funds are available, the Regents may provide additional support and resources to the pilot program.

B. The goal of the pilot program shall be to train higher education faculty to teach multisensory structured reading education for students with dyslexia to teacher candidates enrolled in the elementary, early elementary and special education programs, to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of having trained teachers who can provide early reading assistance programs for children with risk factors for dyslexia and to evaluate whether the early assistance programs can reduce future special education costs. In addition the goal of the pilot program shall be to create a replicable model which can be followed by other higher education institutions.

C. The Regents and the pilot program contractor shall form an advisory committee to design and plan for the implementation of the pilot program.

D. The dyslexia teacher training pilot program shall provide to higher education faculty at participating institutions training on how to teach to teacher candidates the indicators of dyslexia and the type of instruction that children with dyslexia need in order to learn, read, write and spell, including multisensory structured language programs. In addition the pilot program shall provide instruction to teacher candidates enrolled in the elementary, early childhood education or special education program at the institution which is designed to train the teacher candidates on the indicators of dyslexia and the type of instruction that children with dyslexia need in order to learn, read, write and spell, including multisensory structured language programs.

E. Contingent upon the availability of additional public or private funding, the Regents may work with the pilot program contractor to expand the pilot program to provide professional development to teachers of kindergarten through fourth grade which is designed to train teachers on the indicators of dyslexia and the types of instruction that children with dyslexia need in order to learn, read, write and spell, including multisensory structured language programs.

F. The State Regents shall promulgate rules and establish guidelines and procedures for the pilot program. The pilot program shall be established for a minimum term of three (3) years.

G. The pilot program contractor shall report annually to the State Regents about the operation and results of the pilot program. Not later than June 30 of the third year in which the pilot program is operating, the State Regents shall submit a report to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President Pro Tempore of the Senate containing an evaluation of the results of the pilot program and legislative recommendations.

H. As used in this section, “dyslexia” means a specific learning disorder that is neurological in origin and that is characterized by unexpected difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities not consistent with the intelligence, motivation and sensory capabilities of the person, which difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language.

Added by Laws 2012, c. 237, § 1, eff. July 1, 2012.