PRINTER'S NO. 442
No. 431 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY PICCOLA, BELL, KUKOVICH, GERLACH, COSTA,
SALVATORE, CORMAN, KITCHEN, WAGNER, TOMLINSON AND MUSTO,
FEBRUARY 22, 1999
REFERRED TO EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 22, 1999
AN ACT
1 Relating to teaching visually impaired students.
2 The purpose of this act is:
3 (1) To require the standards for teaching certificates
4 to teach students who are visually impaired to include
5 demonstrated competency in the use of braille.
6 (2) To require an annual assessment of reading and
7 writing skills in each medium determined to be appropriate
8 for each visually impaired student.
9 (3) To define "students with visual impairments" to
10 include those medically predicted to become visually impaired
11 in the future.
12 (4) To require individualized education programs for
13 students who are visually impaired to specifically contain a
14 requirement for instruction in braille reading and writing
15 when that medium is appropriate for the student.
16 (5) To require integration of the use of braille reading
17 and writing into a student's entire curriculum when braille
1 is specified as an appropriate medium for the student.
2 (6) To require publishers wishing to offer schoolbooks
3 for sale to Commonwealth schools to also offer for sale
4 computer diskettes for translating the text into braille at a
5 price no greater than the schoolbook price.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Short title.
9 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Instruction
10 to Visually Impaired Students Act.
11 Section 2. Certification of teachers of the visually impaired.
12 The Department of Education shall adopt standards for
13 attaining a certificate that require any teacher certified to
14 teach students with visual impairments to demonstrate competency
15 in reading and writing braille. The standards for demonstrating
16 competency shall be consistent with those adopted for teachers
17 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
18 Handicapped of the Library of Congress.
19 Section 3. Students affected.
20 Visual impairments for any individual means that one of the
21 following applies to the individual:
22 (1) The individual has a visual acuity of 20/200 or less
23 in the better eye with correcting lenses or has a limited
24 field of vision in the better eye such that the widest
25 diameter subtends an angular distance of no greater than 20
26 degrees.
27 (2) The individual has a medically indicated expectation
28 of meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) over a period of
29 time.
30 (3) The individual has a medically diagnosed and
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1 medically uncorrectable limitation in visual functioning that
2 adversely affects the individual's ability to read and write
3 standard print at levels expected of the individual's peers
4 of comparable ability and grade level.
5 Section 4. Students who are functionally blind.
6 (a) Presumption.--In the development of the individualized
7 education program for students who are functionally blind, it
8 shall be presumed that proficiency in braille reading and
9 writing is essential for the student's satisfactory educational
10 progress. Each student who is functionally blind shall be
11 entitled to braille reading and writing instruction that is
12 sufficient to enable the student to communicate with the same
13 level of proficiency as other students of comparable ability who
14 are at the same grade level. Braille instruction may be used in
15 combination with other special education services appropriate to
16 the student's educational needs.
17 (b) Assessment.--The assessment of each student who is
18 functionally blind for the purpose of developing the student's
19 individualized education program must include documentation of
20 the student's strengths and weaknesses in braille skills. Each
21 person assisting in the development of an individualized
22 education program for a student who is functionally blind shall
23 receive information describing the benefits of braille
24 instruction. Each individualized education program for a student
25 who is functionally blind shall:
26 (1) Contain a statement that instruction in braille
27 reading and writing was carefully considered for the student
28 and that pertinent literature describing the educational
29 benefits of instruction in braille reading and writing was
30 reviewed by the persons developing the student's
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1 individualized education program.
2 (2) Contain a statement specifying the one or more
3 reading and writing media in which instruction is appropriate
4 for the student's educational needs.
5 (3) If instruction in braille reading and writing is
6 specified as appropriate for the student pursuant to section
7 3, require a statement of the instruction in braille reading
8 and writing that is to be provided to the student. This
9 statement shall specify the date on which the instruction is
10 to commence, the frequency and duration of instruction
11 sessions, the level of competency in braille reading and
12 writing expected to be achieved annually and the objective
13 assessment measures to be used. Whenever appropriate, the
14 expected level of braille competency for the student shall be
15 to enable the student to communicate effectively and
16 efficiently with the same level of proficiency expected of
17 the student's peers of comparable ability and grade level,
18 and the instruction in braille reading and writing that is to
19 be provided shall be designed accordingly.
20 (4) Require that any instruction in braille reading and
21 writing provided to any student with a visual impairment
22 shall be provided by a teacher certified to teach students
23 with visual impairments.
24 (5) If the individualized education program for any
25 student with a visual impairment does not specify instruction
26 in braille reading and writing as appropriate for the
27 student, require that each annual review of that student's
28 individualized education program shall include a written
29 statement specifying the reasons why instruction in braille
30 reading and writing is not appropriate for the student.
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1 (6) No student with a visual impairment shall be denied
2 instruction in braille reading and writing under this section
3 solely because the student has some remaining vision or
4 because the student is to receive reading and writing
5 instruction in another medium.
6 (c) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
7 construed to require the exclusive use of instruction through
8 the medium of braille reading and writing if other reading and
9 writing media are appropriate to a student's educational needs
10 and enable that student to read and write at levels expected of
11 the individual's peers of comparable ability and grade level.
12 Section 5. Students who will change medium.
13 (a) Classification.--Any student who is visually impaired
14 and is not classified as functionally blind may be classified as
15 a student whose learning medium will change due to a progressive
16 eye condition. Instruction in the new learning medium for a
17 student whose learning medium will change shall begin before it
18 is the only medium the student can effectively use so that
19 educational progress will not be interrupted. To identify and
20 plan educational programs for a transition of learning medium in
21 advance of actual need, a student whose medium will change may
22 be reclassified at any time as a functionally blind student.
23 (b) Reevaluation.--Students whose medium will change shall
24 be reevaluated annually. The result of the reevaluation shall be
25 attached each year to the individualized education program. Each
26 person assisting in the development of the individualized
27 education program of a student whose medium will change shall
28 receive information describing the benefits of braille
29 instruction as well as a copy of the guidelines. The annual
30 reevaluation of each student whose medium will change must
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1 include documentation of the student's strengths and weaknesses
2 in literacy skills, using methods described in the guidelines.
3 Section 6. Local boards of school directors.
4 The board of directors of each school district shall annually
5 assess the reading and writing skills of each student with a
6 visual impairment enrolled in the district in each medium in
7 which instruction is specified as appropriate for the student.
8 The results of each assessment shall be provided in a written
9 statement that specifies the student's strengths and weaknesses
10 in each medium assessed.
11 Section 7. Special education programs.
12 If any special education program serves a student with a
13 visual impairment for whom instruction in braille reading and
14 writing is specified as appropriate, the entity providing the
15 program shall integrate the use of braille reading and writing
16 into the student's entire curriculum and other classroom
17 activities in such a manner that braille reading and writing
18 becomes an effective learning tool for the student.
19 Section 8. Publishers of schoolbooks.
20 Any publisher of schoolbooks in the United States desiring to
21 offer schoolbooks for use by pupils in the public schools of
22 this Commonwealth, before such books may be adopted and
23 purchased by any school board, must on or before the first day
24 of January of each year file in the office of the Secretary of
25 Education the published list wholesale price thereof. When any
26 such publisher desires to offer for use a schoolbook after the
27 first day of January, a supplement to the January list must be
28 filed in the office of the Secretary of Education, showing the
29 published list wholesale price thereof. No revised edition of
30 any such book shall be used in public schools until the
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1 published list wholesale price thereof has been filed in the
2 office of the Secretary of Education. No publisher shall file
3 the wholesale price of any schoolbook unless the publisher
4 complies with both of the following:
5 (1) At the same time as filing the wholesale price of
6 the schoolbook, the publisher shall also file the wholesale
7 price of a computer diskette that contains the text of the
8 schoolbook in the American Standard Code for Information
9 Interchange or in another computer language approved by the
10 Secretary of Education for translating the text of the
11 schoolbook into braille.
12 (2) The wholesale price filed for any specified number
13 of computer diskettes for the schoolbook shall not exceed the
14 wholesale price filed for the same number of the printed
15 version of that schoolbook.
16 Section 9. Effective date.
17 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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