The State Board of Education shall develop and implement a Reading Sufficiency Program of Instruction beginning with the 1998-1999 school year, designed to enable each student to acquire the appropriate grade level of reading skills.  In order to implement the Reading Sufficiency Program of Instruction, each local school board shall develop a Reading Sufficiency Plan for its school district which may include the following components:

a.    Sufficient additional in-school instructional time for the development of reading and comprehension skills of the student;

b.    Readiness intervention programs, such as kindergarten programs, extended school day or school year programs, and program initiatives to reduce class size;

c.    Utilization of research-based teaching methodologies or strategies for providing direct instruction in phonics, vocabulary and comprehension development, including systematic, intensive, explicit phonics, using decodable vocabulary-controlled texts (texts in which ninety-five percent (95%) of the words are decodable), as is determined appropriate by the State Board of Education; and,

d.    Professional development for assistant teachers, teachers and administrators to assist students in implementing the Reading Sufficiency Program.

The School Board, in its discretion, may provide extended day and extended school year programs for kindergarten or compulsory-school-age students, or both, and may expend any funds for these purposes which are available from non-minimum or non-adequate education program sources.  It is not the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this section, to interfere with the Head Start program.  School boards, in their discretion, may charge participants a reasonable fee for such programs.

The School Board may adopt any orders, policies, rules or regulations with respect to instruction within the school district for which no specific provision has been made by general law and which are not inconsistent with the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, the Mississippi Code of 1972, or any order, policy, rule or regulation of the State Board of Education; those school boards also may alter, modify and repeal any orders, policies, rules or regulations enacted under this subsection.  Any such program pertaining to reading must further the goal that Mississippi students will demonstrate a growing proficiency in reading and will reach or exceed the national average within the next decade.

LEGAL REF.: Senate Bill 2944 (1998 Regular Legislative Session; MS Code Section 37-13-10

ADOPTED:    03/14/2006