S. 5110: Improving America's Literacy Act

This bill would change some federal education grant rules to focus literacy funding more narrowly on reading methods the bill says are evidence-based.

What it changes

• It would amend parts of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that deal with federal literacy grants and school improvement grants.
• For certain literacy grants to states, it would say that the funded activities must not use a “three-cueing model”.
• It defines “three-cueing model” as an approach that teaches children to guess words mainly from context, pictures, syntax, or visual memory rather than directly teaching word recognition.
• It would require grant-funded literacy instruction to focus on:
  • phonemic awareness,
  • phonics,
  • fluency,
  • vocabulary, and
  • comprehension.

Grant rules and oversight

• State literacy grants could last no more than 5 years total, with a possible 2-year renewal if the state makes adequate progress and renewal is needed to meet the grant’s goals.
• The Secretary of Education would have to review each state grantee every year.
• That annual review would cover:
  • how the grant affected student literacy outcomes,
  • where grant and subgrant recipients are located, and
  • what specific activities and strategies they used to improve literacy.
• The Department of Education would have to publish a yearly public report summarizing those reviews.
• States applying for these grants would have to show, among other things, that they are serving students with significant reading or language arts weaknesses, such as those shown by statewide tests.

School improvement grants

• The bill would also add a literacy requirement to federal school improvement grants.
• States giving out those funds would only be allowed to send money to local districts that agree literacy activities funded by the grant will be:
  • evidence-based, and
  • built around phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Federal research on literacy

• The Director of the Institute of Education Sciences would have to study which state and local strategies are linked to stronger literacy results.
• That research would look at places that have shown lasting improvement on state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
• It would examine things like:
  • curriculum materials,
  • teacher training and coaching,
  • family and community engagement,
  • individual reading plans,
  • use of curriculum specialists,
  • instruction for English learners, and
  • grade retention policies.
• Within 5 years, the Director would have to report the findings to Congress and make them public.

Limits of the bill

• It says the bill should not be read to change the rights of students with disabilities under IDEA, Section 504, or the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• It also says the federal government would not be allowed to force states or schools to adopt specific curricula, standards, tests, or instructional programs beyond the grant conditions in the bill.

Relevant Companies

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