These recommendations are grounded on our understanding of reading research and our assessment of legislation. However, laws are jus he first step on the complex path reform implementation. To increase the chances of success, we continue to advocate for the collaborative involvement of educators and families.

1. A More Expansive View of Reading: Literacy in Our Digital Age

Developing effective literacy policy requires a shared understanding of the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are necessary to become an effective, competent, deep reader in our digital society.

What States are Getting Right1

Continue grounding reading policy on the five pillars identified in the 2001 report of the National Reading Panel: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

What Else States Should Consider

These five pillars, however, are only a starting point.

  1. Oral language and writing take a back seat in the law but are as essential as the other five pillars. Lawmakers should ensure that they receive the same degree of attention.
  2. Knowledge-building gets almost no attention in reading legislation. It is crucial that legislators recognize its importance and craft language that reflects it.
  3. Laws should consider psychosocial factors, such as reading motivation, and cultural influences, including the ubiquity of digital media and its impact on students’ attention spans and capacity for deep reading and thinking.  
Arizona

An example of legislation that defines reading as encompassing the five pillars, writing, oral language, background knowledge and motivation.

In SB 1572, Arizona defines essential reading components as “explicit and systematic instruction in: (a) phonological awareness, (b) phonics encoding and decoding, (c) vocabulary, (d) fluency, (e) comprehension, and (f) written and oral expression, including spelling and handwriting.” The bill also highlights the importance of “(d) sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension”, vocabulary, and “the development and maintenance of motivation to read.” 

Illinois

An example of legislation that defines reading as encompassing the five pillars, writing, oral language, background knowledge and motivation.

In SB 1572, Arizona defines essential reading components as “explicit and systematic instruction in: (a) phonological awareness, (b) phonics encoding and decoding, (c) vocabulary, (d) fluency, (e) comprehension, and (f) written and oral expression, including spelling and handwriting.” The bill also highlights the importance of “(d) sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension”, vocabulary, and “the development and maintenance of motivation to read.” 

Kentucky

An example of legislation that defines reading as encompassing the five pillars, writing, oral language, background knowledge and motivation.

In SB 1572, Arizona defines essential reading components as “explicit and systematic instruction in: (a) phonological awareness, (b) phonics encoding and decoding, (c) vocabulary, (d) fluency, (e) comprehension, and (f) written and oral expression, including spelling and handwriting.” The bill also highlights the importance of “(d) sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension”, vocabulary, and “the development and maintenance of motivation to read.” 

2. Policy Aligned with the Scientific Consensus on Reading

Adhering to scientific findings is essential. Science evolves, but that is not an excuse for inaction. We must act on our best current knowledge and its immediate implications —while staying flexible and ready to adapt as new evidence emerges.

What States are Getting Right

Continue to prioritize the role of research evidence guiding reading legislation.

What Else States Should Consider

These five pillars, however, are only a starting point.

  1. Policymakers should keep abreast of new research findings and be cognizant of common misconceptions in the field of reading research.  
  2. Laws should clearly define what it means for instructional materials and programs to be aligned with evidence or evidence based.
  3. Lawmakers should draw on education evidence more broadly – e.g., interventions that support families of young children, universal preschool, tutoring – and subfields like the science of learning, implementation science and so on.
State Name

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Other State Name

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3. Teacher Supports

Effectively supporting teachers requires more than investing in pre- and in-service learning; it also means providing high-quality instructional materials and supportive school leaders who create the right conditions for change. Together, these elements (teacher knowledge, curriculum, leadership) form a robust foundation (or infrastructure) for instructional improvement.

What States are Getting Right

  • Maintain flexibility in implementation but pair it with support, such as developing and regularly reviewing approved lists to help districts choose high-quality programs and materials.
  • Maintain support for practicing teachers by offering professional development opportunities grounded in reading science. 

What Else States Should Consider

  1. A high-quality curriculum guides teachers and ensures coherence across grades. Curriculum lists help, but detailing the resources needed for implementation can aid districts’ decision-making.
  2. All curricula, however high-quality, will require some teacher adaptation. Laws should anticipate this and allow for structured adjustments that preserve core elements while tailoring other aspects to better serve specific student groups.

4. Teacher Supports

Identifying the needs of students through screeners and assessments is just the start; states must also provide supports and interventions for all students, including those with greater and/or unique needs.

What States are Getting Right

  • Continue to ensure that legislation covers all students, from Pre-K-3rd grade and beyond.
  • Maintain a focus on screening for potential reading difficulties and ongoing progress monitoring through valid and reliable assessments.
  • Maintain legislation that provides support and resources for students with dyslexia.

What Else States Should Consider

  1. Legislators should call for explicit, systematic instruction organized around curricula that (a) develop content knowledge & (b) value students’ backgrounds, languages.
  2. Legislation should connect assessments to their purpose—supporting all students, including those who need tier II and III interventions—and ensure differentiated instruction for everyone. Support should be comprehensive, delivered through a suite of evidence-based interventions rather than isolated measures.
  3. Lawmakers should ensure equitable support for all students—from the most vulnerable to those with additional needs such as multilingual learners —rather than prioritizing one group over another.

5. Beyond the Classroom: Home-School Collaboration

Achieving desired reading outcomes hinges not only on the individual efforts of schools and families, but most importantly, on the two working together while also incorporating community-based assets.

What States are Getting Right

  • Keep prioritizing legislation that supports authentic school-home and community collaboration to improve children’s reading.

What Else States Should Consider

  1. States should go beyond simply informing parents about reading performance and adopt models that actively build school–home collaboration to boost literacy.
  2. Legislation should tap libraries and other community assets to strengthen students’ reading development.

6. Integration, Coherence, Collaboration, Systems

  • Legislation should move beyond box-checking on requisite skills (e.g., the five pillars). Learning to read depends not on the sum of isolated competencies, but on their interconnection; effective instruction teaches them explicitly, and distinctly while also weaving them together.
  • Furthermore, effective instruction teaches these competencies through texts and materials that impart meaningful content in science, history, and social studies. Without a strong knowledge base established in the early elementary years, reading comprehension will suffer later on.
  • Effective reading instruction should be horizontally and vertically aligned, ensuring coherence across grades and subjects and building cumulatively on children’s developing skills to prepare them for increasingly complex literacy tasks.
  • Reading policy should actively involve educators and families. Lawmakers can do this by including them in literacy committees and gathering their input via surveys or public comment processes. Flexibility and respect are essential for these reforms to deliver positive outcomes.
  • Reading is both a cognitive and social phenomenon, shaped by economic, social, and cultural conditions. Poverty, race, and gender strongly influence development. While many of these factors fall outside the direct scope of reading legislation, laws can help. For example, by supporting free or affordable preschool to address early gaps rooted in unequal language experiences, which hinder oral language development and school readiness. Another example, when schools use digital technology strategically and guided by research, they can safeguard children’s attention and ability to read, learn, and think critically.

1The statement “states are getting right” means the majority (but not all) states tend to prioritize and be good about the items on the left. For a detailed analysis consult our website and report.