State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and California Department of Education Announce Approved Statewide List of Screeners for Reading Difficulties, Accelerating Efforts to Support All Students to Read by Third Grade

SACRAMENTO—California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond issued a letter to local educational agencies (LEAs) providing a list of four approved instruments for the universal screening of reading difficulties of students in grades K–2. This is a key step in the implementation of a core element of Superintendent Thurmond’s initiative to ensure that all students have the support they need to read by third grade.

The screening instruments were selected by the Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel (RDRSSP), established by SB 114 (TK-12 Education Omnibus Trailer Bill), which was signed into law by Governor Newsom on July 10, 2023.

The four tools selected and posted on the California Department of Education (CDE) website were selected using a process, rubric, and evaluation criteria adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE), which prioritized the validity and reliability of the screening instruments, as well as whether the screening instruments had been normed with a population representative of California’s students and whether the instruments were available in English and other languages.

“The ability to read is a critical gateway to a healthy, successful life,” said Thurmond. “We must make sure that all our earliest learners have the necessary supports to build this foundational skill. I want to applaud the efforts of our CDE staff who have led this effort, especially our Statewide Literacy Co-Directors, Dr. Bonnie Garcia and Nancy Brynelson, and Dr. Mike Torres as the Director of our Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division. Their leadership, alongside the hard work of our colleagues at the State Board and WestEd, as well as members of the screening panel, has made an invaluable contribution to our students’ education and futures.”

The four screeners announced include:

Amira, published by Amira Learning, serving students in grades K–2, offered in English and Spanish.

mCLASS with DIBELS Edition 8 and mCLASS Lectura, published by Amplify Education, serving students in grades K–2, offered in English and Spanish.

Rapid Online Assessment of Reading (ROAR), published by the Stanford University Brain Development and Education Lab, serving students in grades 1 and 2, offered in English only.

Multitudes, published by the University of California San Francisco Dyslexia Center, serving students in grades K–2, offered in English and Spanish.

More information about the RDRSSP process, requirements, and screening instruments can be found on the CDE RDRSSP web page at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/cc/rd/.

This effort builds upon further work by Superintendent Thurmond and Governor Newsom to accelerate reading outcomes for students across California, including a Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists (LCRSET) grant championed by Governor Newsom and Superintendent Thurmond, as well as Superintendent Thurmond’s leadership of the Cohort to Move the Needle on Test Scores, which is a statewide cohort of 250 LEAs dedicated to maximizing the use of statewide funds to accelerate student achievement in English language arts and math.

Members of the media can address follow-up inquiries to communications@cde.ca.gov.

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100