S.Amdt. 3144

SA 3144. Mr. CASSIDY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of part I of subtitle F of title V, insert the
following:

SEC. 578. REVIEW OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND DYSLEXIA PROCESSES
AND PROCEDURES OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
EDUCATION ACTIVITY.

(a) In General.--The Director of the Department of Defense
Education Activity (in this section referred to as ``DODEA'')
shall review the special education processes and procedures
in place within DODEA to diagnose disabilities and provide
evidence-based interventions and supports for students with
disabilities.
(b) Provision of Special Education Materials and
Information to Congress.--As part of the review required by
subsection (a), the Director shall provide to the appropriate
congressional committees the following:
(1) A briefing on the special education processes and
procedures of DODEA, particularly those for diagnosing and
treating dyslexia.
(2) All documents, including documents not publicly
available, related to special education in schools operated
by DODEA.
(c) Provision of Dyslexia Materials and Information to
Congress.--No later than 60 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, as part of the review required by
subsection (a), the Director shall provide to the appropriate
congressional committees the following information regarding
the dyslexia screening program of DODEA:
(1) A description of the following:
(A) How DODEA ensures that it screens each student enrolled
in a school operated by DODEA for dyslexia near the end of
kindergarten and near the end of first grade.
(B) How DODEA ensures that it screens new enrollees in each
such school regardless of year, unless the new enrollee has
already been diagnosed with dyslexia.
(C) How DODEA ensures it provides comprehensive literacy
instruction (as defined in section 2221(b)(1) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
6641(b)(1))).
(D) How DODEA provides high-quality training for school
personnel, particularly specialized instructional support
personnel (as defined in section 8101(47)(A)(ii) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801(47)(A)(ii))) related to dyslexia.
(E) How DODEA ensures that each district of schools
operated by DODEA employs at least one specialized
instructional support personnel who specializes in dyslexia.
(2) Information with respect to the following:
(A) The number of students at schools operated by DODEA
screened for dyslexia each year and the grade in which those
students were screened.
(B) The number and types of dyslexia screeners used by
DODEA each year.
(C) The total number of students diagnosed with dyslexia
that are served by DODEA.
(D) The total number of such students, disaggregated by
each subgroup of student (as defined in section 1111(c)(2) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
6311(c)(2))).
(E) The type of professional conducting the intervention
program for a student diagnosed with dyslexia.
(F) A list of, and all materials related to, the
interventions used by DODEA to treat students diagnosed with
dyslexia.
(G) The number of trainings per year provided by DODEA on
identifying and treating dyslexia in students.
(H) A list of organizations outside of DODEA that are used
to consult on the dyslexia screening and intervention
program.
(d) Assessment of Definitions Used by DODEA.--As part of
the review required by subsection (a), the Director shall
provide to the appropriate congressional committees a
description of how DODEA's definitions of the following terms
align with or differ from the following definitions:
(1) Comprehensive literacy instruction.--The term
``comprehensive literacy instruction'' has the meaning given
that term in section 2221(b)(1) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6641(b)(1)).
(2) Dyslexia.--The term ``dyslexia'' means an unexpected
difficulty in reading for an individual who has the
intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused
by a difficulty in the phonological processing (the
appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language),
which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read,
and spell.
(3) Dyslexia screening program.--The term ``dyslexia
screening program'' means a screening program for dyslexia
that is--
(A) evidence-based with proven psychometrics for validity;
(B) efficient and low-cost; and
(C) readily available.
(4) Evidence-based.--The term ``evidence-based'' has the
meaning given that term in section 8101(21)(A)(i) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801(21)(A)(i)).

[[Page S5472]]

(e) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this
section, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the
Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
______