S4689-119

What This Bill Does

The Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development Act rewrites the Elementary and Secondary Education Act's comprehensive literacy State development grant program. A state qualifies as low-performing when it ranks in the lowest quintile for grade-four basic-or-better reading performance in each of the two latest NAEP cycles. Every qualifying state that submits a compliant application receives a grant through an absolute priority; other states compete, with priority for evidence-based plans, states lacking a statewide approach, and states with significant recent NAEP declines. Grant terms fall from five years to four.

The bill defines science of reading around explicit, systematic phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, language structure, oral language, vocabulary, background knowledge, literacy knowledge, comprehension, and integrated writing. Comprehensive literacy instruction must exclude three-cueing or visual-memory approaches as the primary basis for word recognition. High-impact tutoring must use trained personnel, small groups or one-to-one instruction, sustained tutor relationships, progress monitoring, curriculum alignment, and tutor coaching. Universal early literacy screening is periodic, evidence-based assessment of all students' foundational skills.

Education may reserve no more than 5 percent for national evaluation, technical assistance, training, data, and reporting; one-half percent each goes to Bureau of Indian Education schools and outlying areas. Sufficient funds must cover all eligible low-performing states. State plans must allocate at least 15 percent to birth-through-kindergarten-entry activities, 40 percent across kindergarten through grade five, and 40 percent across grades six through twelve. At least 75 percent of each state award must become local subgrants.

States must align pre-service and in-service training with the science of reading; screen every student at least once before grade three; support struggling readers; consider tutoring and summer learning; support aligned materials, coaches, interventionists, bilingual literacy, family literacy, and school leadership; consult educators; and provide parent-notification policies. Local notices must be sufficient, timely, understandable, and, where practicable, in a language parents understand, with assessment results and planned school and home strategies. Within three years, a state must publish a review of every teacher-preparation program's alignment unless a similar recent review exists. Funds supplement rather than replace state, local, or nonfederal spending.

States must annually publish screening, intervention, teacher-training, coaching, and aligned-material use at state and local levels. Personally identifiable information is barred, and unreliable or identifying small groups need not be disaggregated. Education must summarize state reports to Congress within one year and every two years thereafter.

The Institute of Education Sciences must sponsor literacy research on books and reading stamina, writing and comprehension, classroom time, curricula, teacher preparation, oral language, out-of-school factors, and effects of screen time, social media, and addictive technology on cognition and attention. Within five days of each biennial grade-four and grade-eight reading and math NAEP release, IES must give every state and the public accessible outcomes, rankings, poverty-adjusted comparisons, achievement gaps, below-basic rates, and trends.

The Secretary may not regulate the definitions of science of reading or comprehensive literacy instruction or control state and local curriculum, standards, assessments, content, or instruction. Existing IDEA, Section 504, and ADA rights remain intact. The reported substitute omits the introduced findings, purposes, standalone 30-day parent-notification section, and explicit authorization of such sums as necessary for fiscal years 2026-2035; parent notice instead becomes a grant condition.

Who Benefits and How

Students struggling with reading, including students with dyslexia, English learners, children with disabilities, and children in low-income communities, gain screening, intervention, tutoring, summer learning, and aligned materials. Bottom-quintile states gain guaranteed awards if they apply. Teachers, literacy coaches, tutors, school librarians, and principals receive training and support. Families receive assessment results and concrete home strategies. Bilingual-literacy providers, curriculum publishers aligned with the statutory model, tutoring organizations, and teacher-training vendors may gain grant-funded demand. States and the public receive rapid comparative NAEP information.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State education agencies must build plans, divide funds by age band, route 75 percent to subgrants, review teacher-preparation programs, administer universal screening, publish annual data, protect privacy, and supplement existing spending. Local agencies and schools must implement interventions and notify parents. Teacher-preparation programs and instructional-material publishers face public alignment review; programs centered on three-cueing may lose eligibility or demand. Education and IES must preserve an independent evaluation, administer guaranteed and competitive grants, conduct research, and issue recurring reports.

Key Provisions

• Defines science-of-reading, high-impact tutoring, universal screening, and low-performing-state eligibility while excluding three-cueing as a primary word-recognition method.
• Guarantees compliant bottom-quintile states a grant and establishes competitive priorities for other states.
• Requires at least 75 percent of state funds for local subgrants and allocates implementation funds across birth-to-K, K-5, and grades 6-12.
• Requires early screening, struggling-reader support, aligned teacher training and materials, educator consultation, parent notice, and teacher-preparation reviews.
• Requires annual state reports, biennial federal summaries, privacy protections, and supplement-not-supplant compliance.
• Restricts federal regulation and control of curriculum while preserving disability-rights protections.
• Requires IES literacy research, including screen-time effects, and public NAEP state rankings within five days of release.