June 03, 2020 | Blog, COVID-19, Section 504, Special Education

TEA Special Education and Special Populations Updates for the Week of May 25, 2020

Dean Micknal

by Dean Micknal

The Texas Education Agency updated its COVID-19 Special Education Q&A last week to address questions related to Dyslexia screening and coding.  The first question reminded districts that Governor Abbot has waived the required kindergarten dyslexia screening for the 2019-2020 school year. Details regarding the requirements of the waiver are set out in Emergency Commissioner’s Rule TAC § 74.1101. TEA also reminds districts that the required screening of first grade students was not waived, as districts were required to screen first grade students by January 31, 2020.

The second question addressed in the updated Q&A related to procedures for coding kindergarten and first grade Dyslexia screening results in TSDS/PEIMS for the 2019-2020 school year.  TEA is advising districts that 2019-2020 kindergarten students should be coded as 03 to indicate that they were not screened, and that districts should apply the applicable code for (01, 02, or 03) for 2019-2020 first graders.

TEA also updated its Special Populations webpage on May 26, 2020 by updating its existing COVID-19 FAQ: English Learner Guidance and issuing Covid-19 Guidance and FAQ on 2019-2020 Summer School for English Learners. The latter consists of a detailed review of the requirements and exceptions that have been enacted to provide flexibility for completing the 2019-2020 bilingual education and ESL summer school requirements during the pandemic response.  This guidance follows a Fact Sheet recently issued by the United States Department of Education on Providing Services to English Learners During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Leasor Crass, P.C. if we can provide further assistance on these matters.

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