PSD presents districtwide plan to screen and support students with dyslexia; staff training under way

The Poudre School District R-1 presented a multi-year plan Feb. 11 to expand screening, diagnostics and professional learning for students who show indicators of dyslexia.

Nora Love, integrated services assistant director of teaching and learning, told the board that dyslexia "impacts people on a continuum" and is present to some degree in about 20% of students. Shauna Stahl, curriculum, teaching and learning facilitator, emphasized that PSD's recent elementary adoption of structured-literacy materials aligns classroom instruction with the evidence-based "science of reading." The district said its goal is to provide that instruction as the "best first" approach for all students and layer diagnostics and targeted interventions for those who need more intensive work.

Why it matters: District leaders said early, universal screening and targeted diagnostic testing let schools identify the specific decoding, phonological awareness or fluency barriers that most strongly predict reading difficulties often associated with dyslexia. That allows teams to match interventions precisely and to monitor progress every four to six weeks.

What the district described:

- Scre…