May 24, 2024
Rep. Edelson and Senator Maye-Quade Update on Read Act 2.0 Passage
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Today, Minnesota DFL Rep. Heather Edelson, Rep. Mary Frances Clardy and Senator Erin Maye Quade highlighted the 2024 Read Act updates that were passed into law. The original Read Act was authored by Rep. Heather Edelson (DFL-Edina) and Senator Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley) and was signed into law in May 2023; The Read Act 2.0 was passed this session and contains several updates in the Education Policy and Finance Conference Committees (Policy HF3782 /SF3567 & Finance HF5237/SF5252) was signed into law in May 2024.
“The Read Act passed in 2023 is a comprehensive approach led by K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents, curriculum directors, parents and students to take what we know about the science behind reading and apply it to a large-scale change to increase literacy access and outcomes in Minnesota.” said Representative Heather Edelson.
At a time when districts are facing budget deficits, the Read Act sends almost $67M directly to districts to support educators, administrators and districts as they implement the Read Act by:
- Investing $31M in teacher compensation for Read Act training.
- Appropriating $35M directly to school districts with the flexibility for districts to use these funds in a similar fashion to literacy incentive aid.
- Creating Certified Trained Facilitators allowing school districts to train their own staff and teachers; this establishes a sustainable in-district mentoring program for educators undergoing the switch to evidence-based literacy instruction.
- Adding a 3rd literacy screener in the middle of the year to align with established best practices.
- Requiring a report by the Professional Educators Licensing Standards Board to the legislature about the
- Reading Audit, which evaluates how teacher preparation programs in higher education are shifting their teaching to align with Read Act standards.
- Allowing districts to reduce instructional hours for the 2024-2025 school year so teachers can complete
- professional development training required by the Read Act.
- Creating a literacy training for paraprofessionals and volunteers.
- Establishing a process and timeline for Read Act-approved intervention models.
- Allocates $1M for MDE to contract with an agency to work with publishers to ensure the reading curriculum a district chooses is culturally and linguistically responsive and districts have guidance on materials.
- Creating a working group to identify literacy best practices for students who are deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing.
“These new changes and investments are a result of many hours of discussions with our districts on what they needed to successfully implement the Read Act,” said Senator Erin Maye Quade.
“Fifty percent of Minnesota children are not reading at grade level. Fifty percent. The goal of The Read Act is to support our districts and improve literacy rates in the State of Minnesota—to help every child have the opportunity to read well,” said Rep. Heather Edelson.
“Reading is the foundation of learning and a gateway to achievement in the classroom and in life,” said Senator Maye Quade. “With fifty percent of Minnesotan children reading below their grade level, it’s clear that legislators needed to act. The Read Act gives our students, educators, and schools the support they need to help every child become a reader who can use their skills to succeed in the classroom and discover the joy of reading a story for fun.”
The science of reading is an evidence-based reading instruction practice that addresses 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.
“When we passed the READ Act in 2023 we knew that we embarked on a journey to lead the nation in comprehensive Pre-K-12 literacy instruction – this session we built on what we passed last year. With 27,000 teachers signed up for Read Act approved training we are headed in the right direction,” said Rep. Edelson.
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