An Act Regarding Kindergarten Readiness for Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §7204, sub-§6,  as amended by PL 2015, c. 448, §11, is further amended to read:

Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §7204, sub-§7,  as enacted by PL 2015, c. 448, §12, is amended to read:

Sec. 3. 20-A MRSA §7204, sub-§8  is enacted to read:

Sec. 4. Departmental task force established. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a departmental task force to recommend language developmental milestones for children, from birth to 5 years of age, based on existing resources and current standards and to develop a parent resource portfolio as described in subsection 5 to monitor and track the expressive and receptive language acquisition of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their developmental stages toward literacy in American Sign Language and English. The task force must be convened no later than October 1, 2019.

1. The commissioner shall appoint members of the task force in accordance with the following provisions.

2. By March 1, 2020, the Department of Education shall provide to the task force the following information:

3. By June 1, 2020, the task force shall recommend to the Department of Education language developmental milestones based on current standardized norms and aligned with the state instrument used to meet the requirements of federal law for the assessment of children who are deaf or hard of hearing from birth to 5 years of age for purposes of developing a parent resource portfolio as described in subsection 5 for use by parents to monitor and track their children's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward literacy in American Sign Language and English. In selecting language developmental milestones, the task force shall solicit input from experts in the field of education for the deaf and hard of hearing. The Department of Education shall post the recommendations on its publicly accessible website and shall solicit public comments.

4. By June 30, 2020, the Department of Education shall select the language developmental milestones to include in the parent resource portfolio and inform the task force of which language developmental milestones have been selected.

5. By November 15, 2020, the task force shall, in consultation with any governmental entities that oversee the education of children who are deaf or hard of hearing from birth to 5 years of age, develop a parent resource portfolio. The parent resource portfolio must:

6. The task force may advise the department on the content and administration of instruments used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law as used to assess the language and literacy development of children who are deaf and hard of hearing to ensure appropriate use of those instruments and may make recommendations regarding future research to improve the measurement of progress in language and literacy of children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Sec. 5. Department of Education's selection of tools and assessments for educators, early interventionists and therapists. The Department of Education shall select tools and assessments for educators, early interventionists and therapists that can be used to assess the language and literacy development of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and that, in addition to the assessment required by federal law, can be used by the children's individual family service plans or individual education program teams, as applicable, to track the progress of these children and to establish and modify individual family service plans or individual education programs. These tools and assessments must:

1. Be in a format that shows stages of language development;

2. Be currently used by educators to track the development of expressive and receptive language acquisition of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their developmental stages toward literacy in American Sign Language and English;

3. Be drawn from existing instruments or assessments currently used to assess the development of all children from birth to 5 years of age; and

4. Be appropriate, both in content and administration, for use with children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

The selection of tools and assessments for educators, early interventionists and therapists may also reflect the recommendations of the task force made pursuant to section 4, subsection 6.

Sec. 6. Report. No later than December 15, 2020, the Department of Education shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including suggested legislation, for presentation to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs. The report must include:

1. The parent resource portfolio developed by the departmental task force under section 4, and a procedure to disseminate the parent resource portfolio to parents and guardians of children who are deaf and hard of hearing;

2. A procedure to disseminate to local educational agencies educator tools and assessments selected by the department according to section 5 for use in the development and modification of individual family service plans and individual education programs and materials and training in their use in assisting children who are deaf and hard of hearing to become linguistically prepared for kindergarten using American Sign Language or English, or both; and

3. A procedure to require, if a child who is deaf or hard of hearing does not demonstrate progress in expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by one of the educator tools or assessments selected by the department according to section 5 or by the instrument used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, the child's individual family service plan or individual education program team to provide a detailed explanation of why the child is not meeting the language developmental milestones or progressing toward them and to recommend specific strategies, services and programs that should be provided to the child to assist in the child's success toward literacy in American Sign Language or English, or both, including the possibility that a child may be monolingual in American Sign Language or English.

The joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs may report out a bill to the First Regular Session of the 130th Legislature to implement the findings and recommendations included in the report.

SUMMARY

This bill requires the Commissioner of Education, beginning July 31, 2020 and annually thereafter, to submit a report to the joint standing committee having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs of the data specific to language and literacy development of children who are deaf and hard of hearing from birth to 5 years of age, including children who are deaf or hard of hearing and have other disabilities, that demonstrate the children's language and literacy development relative to their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing to include any language developmental milestones or parent resources used or disseminated by the department for use in tracking or assessing the expressive and receptive language acquisition of children who are deaf or hard of hearing and to make this report publicly available.

This bill also directs the Commissioner of Education, no later than October 1, 2019, to establish a departmental task force to recommend language developmental milestones from existing resources and current standards and to develop a parent resource portfolio to monitor and track the expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward literacy in American Sign Language and English of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and sets criteria for the task force membership. The bill also directs the Department of Education to select tools and assessments for educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy development of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and to report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs, by December 15, 2020, on the parent resource portfolio developed by the task force and a procedure to disseminate the parent resource portfolio to parents, a procedure to disseminate the selected tools and assessments to educators and a procedure for educators to use when a child is not progressing in expressive and receptive language skills. The report must include suggested legislation to implement its findings and recommendations, and the joint standing committing of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs is authorized to report out legislation to the First Regular Session of the 130th Legislature to implement those findings and recommendations.