Every student deserves a strong literacy foundation.

Why This Matters for Minnesota Students

Literacy unlocks all areas of learning, including math, science, and the arts—so when kids can’t read, they can’t fulfill their potential. And unfortunately, just half of all Minnesota students are achieving grade-level proficiency in reading. Moreover, there are significant gaps facing Black, Indigenous, and Latino students. Since COVID, Minnesota has been stagnant and in some cases moving backwards, leaving an urgent call to action.

There’s a growing recognition that, too often, literacy instruction is not aligned to what we know about the science of reading. We are at a critical time for reading instruction in our state and through effective legislation and implementation, we can turn Minnesota into a leader in literacy in the coming years. 

Policy Solutions

Make ongoing investments in literacy

In 2023, Minnesota passed the Read Act—a bill that made sweeping changes to literacy training and instruction to better align with evidence-based practices. As with most major policy reforms, there are a few next steps to advance the work and ensure students master reading in the early grades. As noted in “A Call to Action on Literacy in Minnesota” we need to make increased investments in key areas, such as curriculum and professional development, to ensure state leaders meet ongoing needs statewide. Moreover, we can reach students even earlier by  the scope of this work to support learners from 0-5.

Reshape literacy incentive aid

The Read Act invested significant one-time dollars in teacher training and new curriculum, but many are identifying a need for ongoing investment above and beyond this upfront infusion. Improving Minnesota’s existing Literacy Incentive Aid program, one component of Minnesota’s complex school funding formula, could be a piece of the puzzle. Literacy Incentive Aid (LIA) is a narrow funding stream that offers money to district and charter schools based on their students’ MCA reading scores. Some options to improve LIA are worth considering including adding more factors to the calculation beyond MCA scores such as demographics or screener data. We could also rebuild the formula itself so the overall amount of LIA doesn’t change, but the way it’s distributed is more equitable. 

Our Partners

To address Minnesota’s current literacy crisis, EdAllies joined with passionate and renowned literacy experts to help identify the strengths and challenges of Minnesota’s current system, break down the impacts of recently-passed legislation such as the Read Act, and outline a proposed action place moving forward. The Path Forward Literacy Team—supported by the Hunt Institute—come from a variety of backgrounds, including higher education, state government, policy research and advocacy, business, and non-profit organizations. The team released its first report, “A Call to Action on Literacy in Minnesota”, in 2023.