Effective 7/1/2023
53F-4-203. Early interactive reading software — Independent evaluator.
| (1) |
Subject to legislative appropriations, the state board shall distribute funds to public schools based on enrollment for students in kindergarten through grade 3 to purchase personalized interactive reading software. |
Terms Used In Utah Code 53F-4-203 v2
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
| (2) |
A public school that receives funds described in Subsection (1) shall use the funds for a student in kindergarten or grade 1, 2, or 3:
| (a) |
for intervention for the student if the student is reading below grade level; or |
| (b) |
for advancement beyond grade level for the student if the student is reading at or above grade level. |
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| (3) |
| (a) |
On or before August 1 of each year, the state board shall select and contract with an independent evaluator, through a request for proposals process, to act as an independent contractor to evaluate early interactive reading software provided under this section. |
| (b) |
The state board shall ensure that a contract with an independent evaluator requires the independent evaluator to:
| (i) |
evaluate a student’s learning gains as a result of using early interactive reading software provided under Subsection (1); |
| (ii) |
for the evaluation under Subsection (3)(b)(i), use an assessment that is not developed by a provider of early interactive reading software; and |
| (iii) |
determine the extent to which a public school uses the early interactive reading software. |
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| (c) |
The state board and the independent evaluator selected under Subsection (3)(a) shall submit a report on the results of the evaluation in accordance with Section 53E-1-201. |
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| (4) |
An LEA may acquire an analytical software program that:
| (a) |
monitors, for an individual school, early intervention interactive reading software use and the associated impact on student performance; and |
| (b) |
analyzes the information gathered under Subsection (4)(a) to prescribe individual school usage time to maximize the beneficial impact on student performance. |
|
| (5) |
The state board:
| (a) |
may use up to 4% of the appropriation provided under Subsection (1):
| (i) |
to contract with an independent evaluator selected under Subsection (3)(a); and |
| (ii) |
for administrative costs associated with this section; and |
|
| (b) |
shall distribute at least 96% of funds under this section to LEAs in accordance with Subsection (1). |
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| (6) |
Nothing in this section or in Section 53E-4-307 or 53G-11-303 requires a reading software product to demonstrate the statistically significant effect size described in Subsection 53G-11-303(1)(a) in order to be used as an instructional material. |
Amended by Chapter 20, 2023 General Session
