(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall create a pilot project to identify which second grade reading assessments selected under RCW 28A.300.310 will be included in the final collection of assessments that must be available by June 30, 1998.

(2) Schools and school districts may voluntarily participate in the second grade reading test pilot projects in the 1997-98 school year. Schools and school districts voluntarily participating in the pilot project test are not required to have the results available by the fall parent-teacher conference.

(3)(a) Starting in the 1998-99 school year, school districts must select an assessment from the collection adopted by the superintendent of public instruction. Selection must be at the entire school district level.

(b) The second grade reading assessment selected by the school district must be administered annually in the fall beginning with the 1998-99 school year. Students who score substantially below grade level when assessed in the fall shall be assessed at least one more time during the second grade. Assessment performance deemed to be "substantially below grade level" is to be determined for each passage in the collection by the superintendent of public instruction.

(c) If a student, while taking the assessment, reaches a point at which the student's performance will be considered "substantially below grade level" regardless of the student's performance on the remainder of the assessment, the assessment may be discontinued.

(d) Each school must have the assessment results available by the fall parent-teacher conference. Schools must notify parents about the second grade reading assessment during the conferences, inform the parents of their students' performance on the assessment, identify actions the school intends to take to improve the child's reading skills, and provide parents with strategies to help the parents improve their child's score.

Part headings not law—1999 c 373: See note following RCW 28A.300.310.

Part headings not law—1998 c 319: "Part headings used in this act are not any part of the law." [ 1998 c 319 s 401.]

Intent—1997 c 262: See note following RCW 28A.300.310.