Clayton County board hears call for universal early dyslexia screening; district outlines SB 48 implementation

Carrington Mannes, Miss Georgia’s Teen, told the Clayton County Board of Education she wants free, early dyslexia screening across Georgia and urged the district to expand testing and intervention. “Early testing and intervention gave me the tools, confidence, and resilience to pursue every dream I had,” Mannes said, recounting her own diagnosis and advocacy work.

Mannes said she has raised funds for dyslexia supports through her nonprofit Carrington Cares / Decode Dyslexia and described research showing high rates of undiagnosed dyslexia. Board members followed her presentation with questions about where she attended school and how screening and services are delivered in the district.

Dr. Sherrynn Taylor, who is leading the district’s dyslexia work, told the board Clayton County Public Schools has implemented the screening and response requirements of Georgia Senate Bill 48 beyond the state minimum. She said the district screens students in kindergarten through third grade using the Amira screener three times per year (beginning, middle and end of year) and has just completed the end‑of‑year cycle.

Taylor described the local tiered process: if a grade‑level shows 20% or more of students ‘at risk’ on Amira, structured literacy is provided at Tier 1 to the whole grade; otherwise the district identifies individual students for a tiered reading plan. Students who make no progress after two screening cycles or 6–12 weeks of intervention are referred, with parental consent, for evaluation by a school psychologist to determine whether dyslexia characteristics warrant special education or 504 accommodations. The district uses Amira for screening and as an intervention tool, Orton‑Gillingham in the Early Intervention Program (EIP) for Tier 2/3 small‑group work, and Wilson reading for students with Individualized Education Programs.

Taylor said reading interventionists and a coordinating supervisor support Tier 2/3 work, and that about half of the district’s 17 school psychologists hold the dyslexia endorsement used to evaluate students. She reported that 243 students “moved from the beginning of the year to middle of the year and now have the characteristics of dyslexia.”

Board members asked how the program is funded; Taylor said the state covers the screening tool itself, but many of the additional personnel and intervention services are district investments made to go “above and beyond” the state minimum. Questions from board members also raised assistive technologies: staff said Chromebooks include accessibility options and that the district’s assistive‑technology team can evaluate students for devices; board members also discussed low‑cost items such as reading pens and ring decoders as immediate aids.

Several board members praised the district for screening K–3 rather than the state’s minimum of kindergarten only, and urged expansion of training, summer programming, and use of evidence‑based methods (Orton‑Gillingham, Wilson) across more grades.

The discussion closed with board members asking for follow‑up materials including counts of identifications, clarification of funding sources for interventions, and whether district staff have visited specialized private programs to observe practices.