North Carolina § 115C-83 - 3. (Applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year) Definitions.

§ 115C-83. 3. (Applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year) Definitions.

The following definitions apply in this Part: "Accelerated reading class" means a class where focused literacy interventions are provided to increase a student's reading level at least two grades in one school year. "Alternative assessment" means a valid and reliable standardized assessment of reading comprehension, approved by the State Board of Education, that is not the same test as the State-approved standardized test of reading comprehension administered to third grade students. The State Board of Education shall provide the valid and reliable alternative assessment to local school administrative units upon request and establish achievement level ranges for the approved alternative assessment. The State Board of Education shall annually review the alternative assessment to ensure ongoing relevance, validity, and reliability. "Difficulty with reading development" means not demonstrating appropriate developmental abilities in any of the major reading areas, including, but not limited to, oral language, phonological or phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, or comprehension, according to observation-based, diagnostic, or formative assessments. "Individual Reading Plan" means a document outlining the specific reading skill deficiencies of a student who has demonstrated difficulty with reading development and includes the literacy interventions that the student will receive to address the reading skill deficiencies, as required by G.S. 115C-83.6B. "Literacy interventions" mean intentional strategies used to facilitate reading development and remediate emerging difficulty with reading development. Literacy interventions shall be grounded in the Science of Reading and include individual or small group instruction throughout the school year, reduced teacher-student ratios, frequent progress monitoring, tutoring in addition to the regular school day, reading camps, and extended learning time before or after the school day. "Reading camp" means an additional educational program outside of the instructional calendar provided by the local school administrative unit as a literacy intervention that shall be offered to (i) any third grade student who does not demonstrate reading proficiency and (ii) any second grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development. Local school administrative units may offer a reading camp as a literacy intervention to any first grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development. Parents or guardians of the student offered a reading camp as a literacy intervention shall make the final decision regarding the student's reading camp attendance. , (6) Repealed by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(b), effective April 9, 2021, and applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. "Science of Reading" means evidence-based reading instruction practices that address the acquisition of language, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension that can be differentiated to meet the needs of individual students. (7) "Reading proficiency" means reading at or above the third grade level by the end of a student's third grade year, demonstrated by the results of the State-approved standardized test of reading comprehension administered to third grade students. (8) "Student reading portfolio" means a compilation of independently produced student work selected by the student's teacher, beginning during the first half of the school year, and signed by the teacher and principal, as an accurate picture of the student's reading ability. The student reading portfolio shall include an organized collection of evidence of the student's mastery of the State's reading standards that are assessed by the State-approved standardized test of reading comprehension administered to third grade students. A single piece of evidence may show mastery of up to two standards. For each benchmark, there shall be three examples of student work demonstrating mastery by a grade of seventy percent (70%) or above. (9) Recodified as subdivision (4a). (10) "Transitional third and fourth class combination" means a classroom specifically designed to produce learning gains sufficient to meet fourth grade performance standards while continuing to remediate the student's difficulty with reading development. History (2012-142, s. 7A.1(b); 2014-5, ss. 1-3; 2015-241, s. 8.48(a); 2021-8, ss. 2, 6(b), 7(a), 9(a).) Section set out twice. - The section above is applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. For the section applicable before the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, see the preceding section, also numbered G.S. 115C-83.3 . Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2012-142, s. 7A.1(b), enacted this section as G.S. 115C-83.1 C. It has been renumbered as this section at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Subdivisions (3) through (7) of this section were redesignated by the Revisor of Statutes to maintain alphabetical order. Former subdivision (9) was recodified as subdivision (4a) to maintain alphabetical order at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 8.48(f), made the amendment to subdivision (4a) by Session Laws 2015-241, s. 8.48(a), effective beginning with the 2015-2016 school year. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2015.'" Session Laws 2015-241, s. 33.6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 1, provides: "This act shall be known as the "Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021." Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(m), made the amendments to this section by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(b), applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 7(j), made the deletion of the former last sentence in subdivision (4a), as amended by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(b), which read "Reading camps shall (i) offer at least 72 hours of reading instruction to yield positive reading outcomes for participants; (ii) be taught by compensated, licensed teachers selected based on demonstrated student outcomes in reading proficiency or in improvement of difficulties with reading development; and (iii) allow volunteer mentors to read with students at times other than during the 72 hours of reading instruction.', by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 7(a), effective July 1, 2021, and applicable beginning with the 2021-2022 school year. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 9(c), made the amendment to subdivision (2) of this section by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 9(a), applicable beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2014-5, ss. 1-3, effective June 10, 2014, added the last two sentences in subdivision (2); in subdivision (8), inserted "beginning during the first half of the school year" in the first sentence, and inserted the present third sentence; and rewrote subdivision (9). Session Laws 2015-241, s. 8.48(a), effective July 1, 2015, beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, rewrote subsection (4a). For applicability, see Editor's note. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 2, effective April 9, 2021, added subdivision (7a). Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(b), effective April 9, 2021, rewrote the section. For applicability, see editor's note. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 7(a), deleted the former last sentence in subdivision (4a), as amended by Session Laws 2021-8, s. 6(b), which read "Reading camps shall (i) offer at least 72 hours of reading instruction to yield positive reading outcomes for participants; (ii) be taught by compensated, licensed teachers selected based on demonstrated student outcomes in reading proficiency or in improvement of difficulties with reading development; and (iii) allow volunteer mentors to read with students at times other than during the 72 hours of reading instruction.' For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Session Laws 2021-8, s. 9(a), rewrote subdivision (2). For applicability, see editor's note.