The READ Act: New Teaching Methods for Reading in Minnesota

LANESBORO — Every year, the Minnesota Legislature convenes to create legislation that impacts our public schools. In May 2023, Governor Walz signed into law the READ (Reading to Ensure Academic Development) Act, which went into effect that summer.

The main goals of the READ Act are to ensure each child is reading at or above their grade level beginning in kindergarten, and that support is given to multilingual students and students receiving special education services to ensure their reading goals are achieved to meet grade-level reading proficiencies.

Now in its second year, the READ Act replaces the Read Well by Third Grade (RWBTG) program and school districts across the state are working hard to adopt it.

Legislation and our public schools

Lanesboro Public Schools are representative of schools throughout the state. School superintendents, like Lanesboro’s Matt Schultz, keep a close eye on the Minnesota legislature and how legislation affects public schools.

For instance, Schultz said he is excited about the positive impacts from the 2024 legislative session which included a 2 percent increase in per-pupil allowance, and the Universal School Meals program which he sees as beneficial for students and families.

“I’m hopeful these savings have a positive impact on our families’ pocketbooks, as well as keeping our students fed and ready to learn,” he stated.

Schultz and others are also looking forward to the Minnesota North Star Promise, a new program that covers “last dollar” tuition at Minnesota public higher education institutions for Minnesota families earning less than $80,000 annually.  

And another piece of legislation has been the READ Act which, Schultz said, “is a major initiative that I think should have a positive impact not only on Lanesboro, but in reading instruction across the state.”

Implementing the READ Act

Phase One implementation of the READ Act in Minnesota involves training for teachers and staff in pre-K to third grade to learn how to teach reading based on the teaching method called “the science of reading” and its five pillars.

Lanesboro Elementary School Principal James Semmen shared that, “education constantly recycles itself, where reading instruction used to focus on whole language, then phonics, and back and forth, and now the focus is on the science of reading. There are three different programs teachers can choose from to complete their training.”  

The National Reading Panel (NRP), which came out in 2000, determined five pillars of teaching reading in elementary and high school instruction. (Photo by Alison Leathers; graphic by Root River Current)

The state requires districts to create a group of at least 20 people to go through the training. For Lanesboro Public Schools, that meant creating a group that includes preschool through sixth grade elementary teachers, special education teachers and Principal Semmen; this group goes through the Phase One training together.  The second phase of the READ Act will involve training teachers in grades 4-12 that are responsible for reading instruction, so Lanesboro teachers in grades 7-12 will be part of this training.

As Principal Semmen stated, “for more veteran teachers, the science of reading training strengthens and refreshes” their reading teaching skills. 

Ms. Gracie Kupietz is a first-year teacher of second graders and recent Winona State University graduate; she’s going through the training this school year.

Kupietz believes this method of teaching “goes much more in depth about each pillar, and it gives you more strategies and assessments to use,” she said. “It talks more about vocabulary and segmenting words, and it focuses more on kids each having a different need and how you should be teaching things.  It shows you how to help students with specific needs.”

The cost and benefits of the READ Act

The READ Act is a large undertaking for schools as teachers put in many hours of training and principals and other staff have to report progress of the implementation in their school. 

As Principal Semmen shared, “One cost of this implementation is on our students as school is closed for extra days for teacher training days.” 

Families enjoy a breakfast together in Lanesboro in an annual event designed to foster a love of reading in elementary children. (Photo submitted by Lanesboro Public Schools)

“The State of Minnesota is covering the cost of the actual training for our current group of teachers and administrators,” according to Superintendent Schultz. “They also included a funding stream that pays each teacher a small stipend for completing the training.”

All of the detailed and hard work of implementing the READ Act is expected to show results in student testing, such as better results on MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) testing. Schultz noted that some districts may see less of a change in test scores if they were already using reading instruction similar to the Science of Reading approach, as opposed to districts that use other reading strategies that are not as similar to the Science of Reading.  

The state collects feedback from the implementation of the READ Act through a report that schools provide called the Local Literacy Plan. Schultz shared that this plan “includes specific data such as the percentage of students proficient in reading assessments and the number of staff trained and certified in reading instruction.”

Working to help youngest readers

Ms. Kupietz expects to start using the new Science of Reading methods in the 2025-2026 academic school year. She is excited that her fellow teachers are talking about reading instruction more and are going through this training together.

Principal Semmen agreed. “I’ve heard more conversations about this from teachers than in the past,” when other new teaching methods or teacher trainings were introduced. 

Lanesboro Public Schools will continue its efforts to complete Phase One training of the READ Act, while Superintendent Schultz keeps an ear to the ground on the current legislative session and how proposed bills will change social studies standards, course requirements, and long-term facilities maintenance funds, among many other things.  

There is no doubt that districts throughout southeast Minnesota, including Lanesboro Public Schools, will be working diligently to implement the READ Act and getting ready to see the changes it may provide our young students as they start their literary journeys.