Adopted: MSBA/MASA
Model Policy 621
Orig. 2023
Revised: Rev.
2025 (October)
621 LITERACY
AND THE READ ACT
I. PURPOSE
This policy aligns with Minnesota law
established in the Read Act and on other topics related to reading.
II. GENERAL
STATEMENT OF POLICY
The school
district recognizes the centrality of reading in a student’s educational
experience.
III. DEFINITIONS
A. "Evidence-based" means the instruction or item described is
based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid evidence and has demonstrated a
record of success in increasing students' reading competency in the areas of
phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading
fluency, and reading comprehension. Evidence-based literacy instruction is
explicit, systematic, and includes phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics
and decoding, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension
that can be differentiated to meet the needs of individual students.
Evidence-based instruction does not include the three-cueing system, as defined
in subdivision 16.
B. "Fluency" means the ability
of students to read text accurately, automatically, and with proper expression.
C.
"Foundational
reading skills" includes phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and
decoding, and fluency. Foundational reading skills appropriate to each grade
level must be mastered in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3. Struggling
readers in grades 4 and above who do not demonstrate mastery of grade-level
foundational reading skills must continue to receive explicit, systematic
instruction to reach mastery.
D. "Literacy
specialist" means a person licensed by the Professional Educator Licensing
and Standards Board as a teacher of reading, a special education teacher, or a
kindergarten through grade 6 teacher, who has completed professional
development approved by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) in
structured literacy. A literacy specialist employed by the department under Minnesota
Statutes, section 120B.123, subdivision 7, or by a district as a literacy lead,
is not required to complete the approved training before August 30, 2025.
E. "Literacy
lead" means a literacy specialist with expertise in working with educators
as adult learners. A district literacy lead must support the district's
implementation of the Read Act; provide support to school-based coaches;
support the implementation of structured literacy, interventions, curriculum
delivery, and teacher training; assist with the development of personal
learning plans; and train paraprofessionals and other support staff to support
classroom literacy instruction. A literacy lead may be employed by one
district, jointly by two or more districts, or may provide services to
districts through a partnership with the regional service cooperatives or
another district.
F. "Multitiered system of
support" or "MTSS" means a systemic, continuous improvement
framework for ensuring positive social, emotional, behavioral, developmental,
and academic outcomes for every student. The MTSS framework provides access to
layered tiers of culturally and linguistically responsive, evidence-based
practices and relies on the understanding and belief that every student can
learn and thrive. Through an MTSS at the core (Tier 1), supplemental (Tier 2),
and intensive (Tier 3) levels, educators provide high quality, evidence-based
instruction and intervention that is matched to a student's needs; progress is
monitored to inform instruction and set goals and data is used for educational
decision making.
G.
"Oral language," also
called "expressive language" or “receptive language,” includes
speaking and listening, and consists of five (5) components: phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
H.
"Phonemic awareness"
means the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate individual sounds in
spoken syllables and words.
I. "Phonics instruction" means
the explicit, systematic, and direct instruction of the relationships between
letters and the sounds they represent and the application of this knowledge in
reading and spelling.
J. "Progress monitoring" means
using data collected to inform whether interventions are working. Progress
monitoring involves ongoing monitoring of progress that quantifies rates of
improvement and informs instructional practice and the development of
individualized programs using state-approved screening that is reliable and
valid for the intended purpose.
K.
"Reading
comprehension" means a function of word recognition skills and language
comprehension skills. It is an active process that requires intentional
thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between the
text and reader. Comprehension skills are taught explicitly by demonstrating,
explaining, modeling, and implementing specific cognitive strategies to help
beginning readers derive meaning through intentional, problem-solving thinking
processes.
L. "Structured
literacy" means an approach to reading instruction in which teachers
carefully structure important literacy skills, concepts, and the sequence of
instruction to facilitate children's literacy learning and progress. Structured
literacy is characterized by the provision of systematic, explicit, sequential,
and diagnostic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary
and oral language development, and reading comprehension. This approach is
consistent with the principles identified in the science of reading and is
designed to ensure all students develop strong foundational literacy skills.
M. "Three-cueing system," also
known as "meaning structure visual (MSV)," means a method that
teaches students to use meaning, structure and syntax, and visual cues when
attempting to read an unknown word.
N.
"Vocabulary
development" means the process of acquiring new words. A robust vocabulary
improves all areas of communication, including listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. Vocabulary growth is directly related to school achievement and is
a strong predictor for reading success.
IV. READING SCREENER; PARENT
NOTIFICATION AND INVOLVEMENT
A. The school district must administer an approved reading
screener to students in kindergarten through grade 3 within the first six weeks
of the school year, by February 15 each year, and again within the last six
weeks of the school year. The screener must be one of the screening tools
approved by MDE.
B. The
school district must identify any screener it uses in the district’s annual
literacy plan, and submit screening data with the annual literacy plan by June
15.
C. Schools, after administering each screener, must
follow the language access plan under Minnesota Statutes, section 123B.32 and
give the parent of each student who is not reading at or above grade level
information from the screener about:
1. the student's reading proficiency as
measured by a screener approved by MDE;
2. reading-related services currently
being provided to the student and the student's progress; and
3. strategies for parents to use at home
in helping their student succeed in becoming grade-level proficient in reading
in English and in their native language.
D. For
students enrolled in dual language immersion programs, the school district must
measure the student’s reading proficiency in English or in the program’s
partner language, if available, according to Article V below. Following its
language access plan under Minnesota Statutes, section 123B.32, the school
district must notify families with timely information about students’ reading
proficiency, including how the student’s reading proficiency is assessed, any
reading-related services or supports provided to the student and the student’s
progress, and strategies for families to use at home in helping students
succeed in becoming grade-level proficient in reading in English or the partner
language. The dual language immersion program may provide information about
national research on reading proficiency for students in dual language
immersion programs in the parent notification.
E. The school district may not use this section to deny a student's right
to a special education evaluation.
V. IDENTIFICATION
AND REPORT
A. Students enrolled
in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3, including
multilingual learners and students receiving special education services, and students
enrolled in dual language immersion programs, must
be universally screened for mastery of foundational reading skills,
including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, oral language,
and for characteristics of dyslexia as measured by a screening tool
approved by MDE. The screening for characteristics of dyslexia may be
integrated with universal screening for mastery of foundational skills and expressive or
receptive language mastery. The screening
tool used must be a valid and reliable universal screener that is highly
correlated with foundational reading skills. For students reading at grade
level, beginning in the winter of grade 2, the oral reading fluency screener
may be used to assess reading difficulties, including characteristics of
dyslexia, without requiring a separate screening of each subcomponent of
foundational reading skills.
B. The
school district must submit data on student performance in kindergarten, grade
1, grade 2, and grade 3 on foundational reading skills, including phonemic
awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, and oral language to MDE in the annual
local literacy plan submission due on June 15.
C. For
students enrolled in dual language immersion programs:
1. if
students are screened in the partner language, they must be screened at the
same interval as the screenings in English under Paragraph A above;
2. if
the program provides instruction in foundational reading skills in English, the
students receiving that instruction must be screened in English;
3. if
the program provides instruction in foundational reading skills in the partner
language, the students receiving that instruction must be screened in the
partner language;
4. if
no screener is available in the partner language, the school district must
identify how students’ reading proficiency is assessed and how the school
district determines and provides targeted reading instruction in the partner
language and supports to students identified as needing additional support in
developing mastery of foundational reading skills; and
5. the
partner language screening tool must be approved by the school district for
kindergarten through grade 3 students.
D. Students
in grades 4 and above, including multilingual learners and students
receiving special education services, who are not reading at grade level must
be screened for reading difficulties, including characteristics of dyslexia, using
a screening tool approved by MDE and must continue to receive
evidence-based instruction, interventions, and progress monitoring until the
students achieve grade-level proficiency. A parent, in consultation with a
teacher, may opt a student out of the literacy screener if the parent and
teacher decide that continuing to screen would not be beneficial to the
student. In such limited cases, the student must continue to receive progress monitoring
and literacy interventions.
E. Reading screeners in
English, and in the predominant languages of school district students where
practicable, must identify and evaluate students' areas of academic need
related to literacy. The school district also must monitor the progress and
provide reading instruction appropriate to the specific needs
of multilingual learners. The school district must use an
approved, developmentally appropriate, and culturally
responsive screener and annually report summary screener results
to the MDE Commissioner (“Commissioner”) by June 15 in the form and manner
determined by the Commissioner.
F. The school district must include in its local literacy
plan a summary of the district's efforts to screen, identify, and
provide interventions to students who demonstrate characteristics of
dyslexia as measured by a screening tool approved by MDE. With respect to
students screened or identified under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.12,
subdivision 2, paragraph (a), the report must include:
1. a summary of the school district's
efforts to screen for characteristics of reading difficulties, including dyslexia;
2. the number of
students universally screened for that reporting year;
3. the number of students demonstrating
characteristics of dyslexia for that year; and
4. an explanation of how
students identified under this subdivision are provided with
alternate instruction and interventions under Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.56,
subdivision 1.
VI. INTERVENTION
A. For each student identified under the
screening identification process, the school district shall provide aligned and
targeted reading intervention to accelerate student growth and reach the goal
of reading at or above grade level by the end of the current grade and school
year.
B. The school district must implement
progress monitoring, as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.119, for a
student not reading at grade level.
C. The school district must use
evidence-based curriculum and intervention materials at each grade level that
are designed to ensure student mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics,
vocabulary development, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. If the
school district purchases new literacy curriculum, or literacy intervention or
supplementary materials, the curriculum or materials must be evidence-based as
defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.119.
D. If a student does not read at or above
grade level by the end of the current school year, the school district
must continue to provide aligned and targeted reading intervention as defined
by the MTSS framework until the student reads at grade level. School district
intervention methods shall encourage family engagement and, where possible,
collaboration with appropriate school and community programs that specialize in
evidence-based instructional practices and measure mastery of foundational
reading skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, and
oral language.
E. By the 2025-2026 school year,
intervention programs must be taught by an intervention teacher or special
education teacher who has successfully completed training in evidence-based
reading instruction approved by MDE. Intervention may
include but is not limited
to requiring student attendance in summer school, intensified
reading instruction that may require that the student be removed from the
regular classroom for part of the school day, extended-day programs, or
programs that strengthen students' cultural connections.
F. The school district must determine the
format of the personal learning plan in collaboration with the student's
educators and other appropriate professionals. The school must develop the
learning plan in consultation with the student's parent or guardian. The
personal learning plan must include targeted instruction that is
evidence-based and ongoing progress monitoring, and address knowledge gaps
and skill deficiencies through strategies such as specific exercises and
practices during and outside of the regular school day, group
interventions, periodic assessments or screeners, and reasonable
timelines. The personal learning plan may include grade retention, if it is in
the student's best interest; a student may not be retained solely due to delays
in literacy or not demonstrating grade-level proficiency. A school must
maintain and regularly update and modify the personal learning plan until the
student reads at grade level. This paragraph does not apply to a student under
an individualized education program.
VII. LOCAL
LITERACY PLAN
A. The school district must adopt a local
literacy plan to have every child reading at or above grade level every
year beginning in kindergarten and to support multilingual learners and
students receiving special education services in achieving their individualized
reading goals. The school district must update and submit the plan to the
Commissioner by June 15 each year. The plan must be consistent with the Read
Act, and include the following:
1. a process to assess
students' foundational reading skills, oral language, and level of reading
proficiency and the screeners used, by school site and grade level, under Minnesota
Statutes, section 120B.123;
2. a process to notify and involve
parents;
3. a description of how schools in the school
district will determine the targeted reading instruction that is
evidence-based and includes an intervention strategy for a student and the
process for intensifying or modifying the reading strategy in order to obtain
measurable reading progress;
4. evidence-based intervention methods for
students who are not reading at or above grade level and progress monitoring to
provide information on the effectiveness of the intervention;
5. identification of staff development
needs, including a plan to meet those needs;
6. the curricula used by school site and
grade level and, if applicable, the district plan and timeline for adopting
evidence-based curricula and materials starting in the 2025-2026 school year;
7. a statement of whether the school
district has adopted an MTSS framework;
8. student data using the measures of
foundational literacy skills and mastery identified by MDE for the following
students:
9. the number of teachers and other staff
that have completed training approved by the department;
10. the number of teachers and other staff
proposed for training in structured literacy;
11. how the district used funding provided
under the Read Act to implement the requirements of the Read Act;
12. beginning as soon as practicable after
the end of fiscal year 2026, how the district used literacy aid funding
received under Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.98; and
13. beginning on December 31, 2025, for a
district with a dual language immersion program:
a. the program’s partner language;
b. grade levels included in the program;
c. the language used to screen students’
foundational reading skills;
d. the percentage of grade 3 students
taking the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments; and
e. the number of students in the program
in grades 4 to 12 who are identified as not reading at grade level.
B. Annually by June 15, the school district must post its literacy plan on
the official school district website and submit it to the Commissioner
using the template developed by the Commissioner.
C. The
school district must use a streamlined template developed by the Commissioner
for local literacy plans that meets the requirements of Minnesota Statutes,
section 120B.12, subdivision 4a, and requires all reading instruction and
teacher training in reading instruction to be evidence-based.
VIII. STAFF
TRAINING
A. The district must provide training from a menu of approved
evidence-based training programs to the following teachers and staff by July 1,
2026:
1. reading intervention
teachers working with students in kindergarten through grade 12;
2. all classroom
teachers of students in kindergarten through grade 3 and children in
prekindergarten programs;
3. kindergarten
through grade 12 special education teachers responsible for foundational
reading instruction;
4. curriculum
directors;
5. instructional
support staff, contractors, and volunteers who assist in providing reading
interventions under the oversight and monitoring of a trained licensed teacher;
6. employees who
select literacy instructional materials for a district; and
7. teachers
holding English as a second language teaching licenses.
B. The school district must provide training
from a menu of approved evidence-based training programs to the following teachers
by July 1, 2027:
1. teachers who
provide foundational reading instruction to students in grades 4 to 12;
2. teachers who
provide instruction to students in a state-approved alternative program; and
3. teachers who
provide instruction to students in dual language immersion programs.
The
Commissioner may grant a school
district an extension to these deadlines.
C. By August 30, 2025, the school district must employ or contract
with a literacy lead, or be actively supporting a designated literacy
specialist through the process of becoming a literacy lead. The school board
may satisfy the requirements of this subdivision by contracting with another
school board or cooperative unit under Minnesota Statutes, section 123A.24 for
the services of a literacy lead by August 30, 2025. The school district
literacy lead must collaborate with school district administrators and staff to
support the school district's implementation of requirements under the Read
Act.
D. Training
provided by the following may satisfy the professional development requirements
under this Article:
1. a
certified trained facilitator; or
2. a
training program that MDE has determined meets the professional development
requirements under the Read Act.
IX. STAFF
DEVELOPMENT
A. The school district must provide training
programs on evidence-based reading instruction to teachers and instructional
staff in accordance with Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.12, subdivision 1,
paragraphs (b) and (c). The training must include teaching in the areas of
phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, reading
comprehension, and culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy.
B. The school district shall use the data
under Article V. above to identify the staff development needs so that:
1. elementary teachers are able to
implement explicit, systematic, evidence-based instruction in the five
reading areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension with emphasis on mastery of foundational reading
skills as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.119 and
other literacy-related areas including writing until the student achieves
grade-level reading and writing proficiency;
2. elementary teachers have sufficient
training to provide students with evidence-based reading and oral language
instruction that meets students' developmental, linguistic, and literacy needs
using the intervention methods or programs selected by the school district for
the identified students;
3. licensed teachers employed by the
school district have regular opportunities to improve reading and writing
instruction;
4. licensed teachers recognize students'
diverse needs in cross-cultural settings and are able to serve the oral
language and linguistic needs of students who
are multilingual learners by maximizing strengths in their native
languages in order to cultivate students' English language development,
including academic language development, and build academic literacy; and
5. licensed teachers are well trained in
culturally responsive pedagogy that enables students to master content, develop
skills to access content, and build relationships.
C. The school district must provide staff
in early childhood programs sufficient training to provide children in early
childhood programs with explicit, systematic instruction in phonological and
phonemic awareness; oral language, including listening comprehension; vocabulary;
and letter-sound correspondence.
X. LITERACY
AID USES
The school district must use its
literacy aid to meet the requirements and goals adopted in the school
district’s local literacy
plan.
Legal
References: Minn. Stat. § 120B.119 (Read Act
Definitions)
Minn. Stat. § 120B.12 (Read Act
Goal and Interventions)
Minn. Stat. § 120B.123 (Read Act
Implementation)
Minn. Stat. § 123A.24 (Withdrawing
from a Cooperative Unit; Appealing Denial of Membership)
Minn. Stat. § 124D.68
(Graduation Incentives Program)
Minn. Stat. § 124D.98 (Literacy
Incentive Aid)
Minn. Stat. § 125A.56 (Alternate Instruction
Required before Assessment Referral)
Cross
References: None