Dyslexia Working Group

Background Information

During the 2019 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 19-1134 (PDF), Identification and Interventions for Students with Dyslexia.  The bill created a working group appointed by the Commissioner of Education to analyze state and national data and practices concerning identification and support of students with dyslexia.  The working group is also tasked with recommending dyslexia screening tools and processes, a statewide plan for identifying and supporting students with dyslexia, and educator training in recognizing and providing interventions for students with dyslexia. The working group must annually submit a report of its recommendations to the Commissioner, and the Commissioner must submit the report to the State Board of Education and the education committees of the General Assembly.

The bill also establishes a pilot program to assist local education providers in using READ Act assessments to screen for dyslexia and in providing interventions for students who are identified as having dyslexia. More information about the pilot program will be available in the late fall of 2020.

For questions regarding the Dyslexia Working Group, please contact Dr. Floyd Cobb at 303.866.6868 or Cobb_F@cde.state.co.us.

Working Group Facilitation

Rocky Mountain Center for Positive Change serves as the facilitator of the Dyslexia Working Group. They share CDE’s strong commitment to improved Dyslexia screening, identification, and support for Colorado’s students. The primary roles of the facilitator are to manage the working group meetings and record the working group’s recommendations in a final report. All meeting agendas and summaries are publicly available on this webpage.

Focus of the Dyslexia Working Group

Each year, the Dyslexia working group determines a focus area for their work based on the legislative charge for the group.  The Dyslexia Working Group has following tasked outline in statute:

1. Analyze current national and statewide data related to students identified as having dyslexia, including but not limited to identification rates and achievement rates;
2. Analyze the implementation and demonstrated effectiveness in other states of statewide legislation for dyslexia screening, educator training, and other dyslexia related laws;
3. Identify and recommend appropriate dyslexia screening tools and processes as well as comprehensive assessments that address the recognized challenges of dyslexia, including phonological processing, phonemic awareness, and decoding and encoding skills;
4. Identify and recommend a statewide plan for supporting students who are identified as having dyslexia, including specific intervention structures and their components, which must include evidence-based interventions, progress-monitoring systems, and data collection systems.
5. Identify and recommend components of dyslexia awareness training for Colorado educators, including the content, target audience, time frame for training, and projected cost; 
6. Identify and recommend educator training for in-state approved programs of preparation for teacher and alternative teacher programs and recommended training for current educators, based on effective practice in other states, as well as recommendation from state and national organizations focusing on literacy.  The recommendations concerning educator training may include the content, target audience, time frame for training, and projected cost; and
7. Provide recommendations to the Department concerning the design and implementation of the pilot program. 

In addition, the Dyslexia Working Group must, “analyze and integrate, as appropriate, the work and recommendations of other previous and ongoing state initiative related to improving the identification and support of students who have dyslexia.” 

The outcomes for each year of the Dyslexia Working Group are outlined in an annual report.  The annual reports for the following years are available to download:

2023- 2024 Meeting Dates and Locations

Dyslexia Working Group meetings are open to the public; however, only working group members have an active role in the meetings. Meetings are scheduled for the following dates for the 2023-2024 year: 

• Friday, September 22, 2023; 10am-3pm
  • In Person Meeting
    • Location: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202 - 19th Floor Conference Room

  • Meeting Agenda (PDF) | Meeting Summary (PDF)
  • Meeting Slides (PDF) 
• Friday, December 1, 2023; 10am-2pm
  • Virtual Meeting
  • Meeting Agenda (PDF) | Meeting Summary (PDF)
  • Dyslexia Handbook 
• Friday, January 19, 2024; 10am-2pm
  • Virtual Meeting
  • Meeting Agenda (PDF) | Meeting Summary (PDF)
  • Dyslexia Pilot Program Protocol (PDF)
• Friday, March 8, 2024; 10am-2pm
  • Virtual Meeting
  • Meeting Agenda (PDF) | Meeting Summary (PDF)
• Friday, May 10, 2024; 10am-2pm
  • In Person Meeting
    • Location: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202 - 19th Floor Conference Room
    • Click to join via Webinar
  • Meeting Agenda (TBD) | Meeting Summary (TBD)

Past Meeting Information 

2022-2023 Past Meetings Dates, Locations, and Meeting Notes

2021-2022 Past Meeting Dates, Locations, and Meeting Notes

2019-2020 Past Meeting Dates, Locations, and Meeting Notes

Membership