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A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION APPROACH TO
IDENTIFYING SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS AND TO EVALUATE ITS
EFFECT ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PROGRESS AND IDENTIFICATION
RATES IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
WHEREAS, research indicates that special education
should only be considered when a student's performance shows
a dual discrepancy, which is when the student performs
significantly below same-grade peers on measures of academic
performance and also performs poorly in response to carefully
planned and precisely delivered instruction; and
WHEREAS, the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004 allows school districts to
use scientific, research-based interventions as an
alternative method for identifying students with specific
learning disabilities and to expend up to fifteen percent of
the district's Part B funds for early intervention services
for students not identified as needing special education or
related services; and
WHEREAS, in the response to intervention approach, a
student with academic delays is given one or more
research-validated interventions and if the student fails to
show significantly improved academic skills despite the
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interventions, this failure to respond to intervention may be
viewed as evidence of an underlying learning disability; and
WHEREAS, the response to intervention approach may
reduce referrals to special education by providing a means to
distinguish between students who perform poorly in school due
to learning disabilities and those who perform poorly in
school due to other factors, such as reading problems; and
WHEREAS, the national center for education statistics
indicates that New Mexico identifies children as having
learning disabilities at a rate of fifteen and eight-tenths
percent, which is two percent above the national average; and
WHEREAS, the public education department has required
districts to implement the response to intervention approach
as part of a dual discrepancy model for identifying children
with learning disabilities in kindergarten through grade
three; and
WHEREAS, the department has extended the implementation
deadline from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2009;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department be
requested to monitor the implementation of the response to
intervention approach by school districts and to evaluate the
impact that the approach has on the academic progress of
students and on the identification of students as needing
special education and related services; and
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department monitor the
assessment instruments used by school districts to help
identify student needs and to measure response to
interventions to ensure that the assessments are both valid
and appropriate for the purpose; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department provide
periodic updates, including the number of school districts
that have fully implemented the response to intervention
approach, and report its findings and recommendations, if
any, to the legislative education study committee prior to
the first session of the forty-ninth legislature; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be
transmitted to the secretary of public education.