Literacy Legislation in Georgia

Most recently passed, HB307 serves to consolidate and clarify HB538 and SB48. It also provides for revised definitions and refined data collection protocols and mandates that:

• All districts distribute the Dyslexia Informational Handbook published by the Georgia Department of Education to each school administrator, each teacher, and other school personnel by August 1^st of each year.

• Schools and districts may not utilize the three-cueing method (also referred to as the MSV method) to teach word reading.

• The Georgia Literacy Coach Coordinating Committee be established within the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) and led by the Coordinator of Georgia Literacy Coaching.

Passed in 2023, HB538 has multiple components that compel all districts and teacher preparation programs to align instruction and teacher training to the Science of Reading and structured literacy practices so that Kindergarten through 3rd Grade students are provided with foundational literacy skills. More specifically, it requires that:

• All schools must administer a state board-approved universal reading screener to all Kindergarten through 3rd Grade students three times per year to screen for risks of a significant reading deficiency, the first being within the first 30 days of school.
• All schools must implement a tiered reading intervention plan for students who have been identified to be at risk of a significant reading deficiency within 30 days of identification.
• All schools must use high quality instructional materials that have either been approved by the State Board of Education or vetted using a Georgia Department of Education designated rubric.
• All teachers who work with students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd Grade must participate in accredited professional learning on the science of reading.

Passed in 2019, SB48 requires that all public schools administer a dyslexia screener to all Kindergarten through 3rd Grade students at least once per year in order to screen for characteristics of dyslexia. It should be emphasized that these screeners do not diagnose dyslexia. They simply raise flags for characteristics. Intervention plans must be developed for students who are identified as having characteristics of dyslexia.

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