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USD 260 moves to Ready Reading for dyslexia screening; staff note limits of high-school local screenings
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Holly Putnam Jackson told the board the district is replacing the discontinued Reading Inventory with Ready Reading for grades 2–12 and continuing DIBELS for K–5; staff also flagged uneven high-school participation in local screeners and discussed ACT as an alternative measure.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Holly Putnam Jackson told the USD 260 board on Jan. 27 that the district is switching from Reading Inventory to Ready Reading for grades 2–12 after the vendor discontinued the former product, and that staff will continue to evaluate DIBELS for K–5 screening.
The change follows Kansas State Department of Education guidance about dyslexia screening and structured literacy. Dr. Putnam Jackson said Ready Reading is on the state-approved list of dyslexia screeners and provides more diagnostic detail — for students flagged at risk it returns automatic diagnostics in fluency, vocabulary, phonics and phonemic awareness.
Why it matters: universal screening informs early intervention placement and matching students to tiered reading supports. Staff said accurate screeners are essential to align students with interventions and to report required training and screening to KSDE.
What staff told the board
- Screening cadence and training: Dr. Putnam Jackson said the district administers universal screeners three times a year and that screening is not a diagnosis but a signal for further assessment. She described updated dyslexia training requirements reflecting the science of reading and five baseline training modules that new teachers must pass.
- Diagnostic differences: Dr. Putnam Jackson said teachers liked Ready Reading’s additional diagnostic detail compared with the prior Reading Inventory, which largely produced Lexile bands. “They are actually very much the same” in Lexile ranges, she said, but Ready Reading provides more underlying skill data.
- High-school participation and data limits: Board members and Derby High School principal Gretchen Pontius discussed low participation among juniors and seniors who take college courses or AP classes. Pontius said secondary students often prioritize college coursework and scholarships over local screeners: “For a secondary age student, their mindset just shifts completely.” Board members asked staff to consider using alternate measures such as ACT scores for long-term reporting.
Board context and next steps
- Dr. Putnam Jackson said the district has run dyslexia-related task-force work since about 2020–21 and has been implementing KSDE recommendations and screening flow charts for elementary through high school.
- Staff will gauge DIBELS’ ongoing suitability for K–5 and continue to collect classroom feedback through the spring screening window. The district will report training and screening results as required and will return with suggestions for addressing high-school participation in future needs-assessment work.
Questions raised at the meeting focused on how to motivate older students to take local screeners and whether alternate state-level assessments should be used for accountability and intervention planning.
