SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 9

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Cynthia Nava

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS AND TO EVALUATE ITS EFFECT ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PROGRESS AND IDENTIFICATION RATES IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

     WHEREAS, research indicates that special education should only be considered when a student's performance shows a dual discrepancy, which is when the student performs significantly below same-grade peers on measures of academic performance and also performs poorly in response to carefully planned and precisely delivered instruction; and

     WHEREAS, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 allows school districts to use scientific, research-based interventions as an alternative method for identifying students with specific learning disabilities and to expend up to fifteen percent of the district's Part B funds for early intervention services for students not identified as needing special education or related services; and

     WHEREAS, in the response to intervention approach, a student with academic delays is given one or more research-validated interventions and if the student fails to show significantly improved academic skills despite the interventions, this failure to respond to intervention may be viewed as evidence of an underlying learning disability; and

     WHEREAS, the response to intervention approach may reduce referrals to special education by providing a means to distinguish between students who perform poorly in school due to learning disabilities and those who perform poorly in school due to other factors, such as reading problems; and

     WHEREAS, the national center for education statistics indicates that New Mexico identifies children as having learning disabilities at a rate of fifteen and eight-tenths percent, which is two percent above the national average; and

     WHEREAS, the public education department has required districts to implement the response to intervention approach as part of a dual discrepancy model for identifying children with learning disabilities in kindergarten through grade three; and

     WHEREAS, the department has extended the implementation deadline from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2009;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department be requested to monitor the implementation of the response to intervention approach by school districts and to evaluate the impact that the approach has on the academic progress of students and on the identification of students as needing special education and related services; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department monitor the assessment instruments used by school districts to help identify student needs and to measure response to interventions to ensure that the assessments are both valid and appropriate for the purpose; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department provide periodic updates, including the number of school districts that have fully implemented the response to intervention approach, and report its findings and recommendations, if any, to the legislative education study committee prior to the first session of the forty-ninth legislature; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education. 

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