STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5992--A 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE May 9, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sens. ROBACH, AVELLA, CARLUCCI, FUNKE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to language development for deaf and hard of hearing students The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 4214 2 to read as follows: 3 § 4214. Language development for deaf and hard of hearing children. 1. 4 The department shall select language developmental milestones from 5 existing standardized norms, pursuant to the process specified in subdi- 6 vision four of this section, for purposes of developing a resource for 7 use by parents to monitor and track deaf and hard of hearing children's 8 expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages 9 toward English literacy. For the purposes of this section, the term 10 "language developmental milestones" means milestones of development 11 aligned with the existing state instrument used to meet the requirements 12 of federal law for the assessment of children from birth to five years 13 of age, inclusive. This parent resource shall: 14 a. Include the language developmental milestones selected pursuant to 15 the process specified in subdivision four of this section; 16 b. Be appropriate for use, in both content and administration, with 17 deaf children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, who use one or 18 both of the languages of American sign language and English. For the 19 purposes of this section, "English" includes spoken English, written 20 English, or English with the use of visual supplements; 21 c. Present the developmental milestones in terms of typical develop- 22 ment of all children, by age range; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11515-02-8

S. 5992--A 2 1 d. Be written for clarity and ease of use by parents; 2 e. Be aligned to the department's existing infant, toddler, and 3 preschool guidelines, the existing instrument used to assess the devel- 4 opment of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, and state 5 standards in English language arts; 6 f. Make clear that the parent resource is not a formal assessment of 7 language and literacy development, and that a parent's observations of 8 their children may differ from formal assessment data presented at an 9 individualized family service plan or individualized education program 10 meeting; and 11 g. Make clear that a parent may bring the parent resource to an indi- 12 vidualized family service plan or individualized education program meet- 13 ing for purposes of sharing their observations about their child's 14 development. 15 2. The department shall also select existing tools or assessments for 16 educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy develop- 17 ment of deaf and hard of hearing children. These educator tools or 18 assessments: 19 a. Shall be in a format that shows stages of language development; 20 b. Shall be selected for use by educators to track the development of 21 deaf and hard of hearing children's expressive and receptive language 22 acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy; 23 c. Shall be selected from existing instruments or assessments used to 24 assess the development of all children from birth to five years of age, 25 inclusive; 26 d. Shall be appropriate, in both content and administration, for use 27 with deaf and hard of hearing children; 28 e. May be used, in addition to the assessment required by federal law, 29 by the child's individualized family service plan or individualized 30 education program team, as applicable, to track deaf and hard of hearing 31 children's progress, and to establish or modify individualized family 32 service plans or individualized education program meeting plans; and 33 f. May reflect the recommendations of the advisory committee estab- 34 lished pursuant to subdivision five of this section. 35 3. a. The department shall disseminate the parent resource developed 36 pursuant to subdivision one of this section to parents and guardians of 37 deaf and hard of hearing children, and, pursuant to federal law, shall 38 disseminate the educator tools and assessments selected pursuant to 39 subdivision two of this section to local educational agencies for use in 40 the development and modification of individualized family service plans 41 or individualized education program plans, and shall provide materials 42 and training on its use, to assist deaf and hard of hearing children in 43 becoming linguistically ready for kindergarten using one or both of the 44 languages of American sign language and English. 45 b. If a deaf or hard of hearing child does not demonstrate progress in 46 expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by one of the 47 educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subdivision two of 48 this section, or by the existing instrument used to assess the develop- 49 ment of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, the child's 50 individualized family service plan or individualized education program 51 team, as applicable, shall, as part of the process required by federal 52 law, explain in detail the reasons why the child is not meeting the 53 language developmental milestones or progressing towards them, and shall 54 recommend specific strategies, services, and programs that shall be 55 provided to assist the child's success toward English literacy.

S. 5992--A 3 1 4. a. On or before March first, two thousand nineteen, the department 2 shall provide the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision 3 five of this section with a list of existing language developmental 4 milestones from existing standardized norms, along with any relevant 5 information held by the department regarding those language develop- 6 mental milestones for possible inclusion in the parent resource devel- 7 oped pursuant to subdivision one of this section. These language devel- 8 opmental milestones shall be aligned to the department's existing 9 infant, toddler, and preschool guidelines, the existing instrument used 10 to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to 11 federal law, and the state standards in English language arts. 12 b. On or before June first, two thousand nineteen, the advisory 13 committee shall recommend language developmental milestones for 14 selection pursuant to subdivision one of this section. 15 c. On or before June thirtieth, two thousand nineteen, the department 16 shall inform the advisory committee of which language developmental 17 milestones were selected from such recommendations. 18 5. a. The superintendent of schools shall establish an ad hoc advisory 19 committee for purposes of soliciting input from experts on the selection 20 of language developmental milestones for children who are deaf or hard 21 of hearing that are equivalent to those for children who are not deaf or 22 hard of hearing, for inclusion in the parent resource developed pursuant 23 to subdivision one of this section. The advisory committee may also make 24 recommendations on the selection and administration of the educator 25 tools or assessments selected pursuant to subdivision two of this 26 section. 27 b. The advisory committee shall consist of thirteen volunteers, the 28 majority of whom shall be deaf or hard of hearing, and all of whom shall 29 be within the field of education for the deaf and hard of hearing. The 30 advisory committee shall include all of the following: 31 (1) One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses the 32 dual languages of American sign language and English; 33 (2) One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses only 34 spoken English, with or without visual supplements; 35 (3) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils who 36 uses the dual languages of American sign language and English; 37 (4) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils from a 38 state certified nonpublic, nonsectarian school; 39 (5) One expert who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of 40 hearing children using American sign language and English; 41 (6) One expert who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of 42 hearing children using spoken English, with or without visual supple- 43 ments; 44 (7) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 45 expertise is in curriculum and instruction in American sign language and 46 English; 47 (8) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 48 expertise is in curriculum and instruction in spoken English, with or 49 without visual supplements; 50 (9) One advocate for the teaching and use of the dual languages of 51 American sign and English; 52 (10) One advocate for the teaching and use of spoken English, with or 53 without visual supplements; 54 (11) One early intervention specialist who works with deaf and hard of 55 hearing infants and toddlers using the dual languages of American sign 56 language and English;

S. 5992--A 4 1 (12) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 2 expertise is in American sign language and English language assessment; 3 and 4 (13) One speech pathologist from spoken English, with or without the 5 use of visual supplements. 6 6. The advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision five of 7 this section may also advise the department or its contractor on the 8 content and administration of the existing instrument used to assess the 9 development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, as 10 used to assess deaf and hard of hearing children's language and literacy 11 development to ensure the appropriate use of that instrument with those 12 children, and may make recommendations regarding future research to 13 improve the measurement of progress of deaf and hard of hearing children 14 in language and literacy. 15 7. Commencing on or before July thirty-first, two thousand nineteen, 16 and on or before each July thirty-first thereafter, the department shall 17 annually produce a report, using existing data reported in compliance 18 with the federally required state performance plan on pupils with disa- 19 bilities, that is specific to language and literacy development of deaf 20 and hard of hearing children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, 21 including those who are deaf or hard of hearing and have other disabili- 22 ties, relative to their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing. The 23 department shall make this report available on the department's website. 24 8. All activities of the department in implementing this section shall 25 be consistent with federal law regarding the education of children with 26 disabilities and federal law regarding the privacy of pupil information. 27 9. This section shall apply only to children from birth to five years 28 of age, inclusive. 29 10. The implementation of this section shall be subject to an appro- 30 priation made therefor. 31 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 32 have become a law.