The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved two bills focused on reading instruction on Thursday, with both measures now headed to the full Senate for consideration.
The READ Act, a bipartisan proposal, would establish new requirements for existing federal literacy grant programs. The legislation would mandate early screening for reading difficulties and the use of evidence-based instruction methods. It would also redistribute some funding toward states demonstrating the lowest reading performance on fourth-grade assessments. The measure passed by a 20-2 committee vote and applies new conditions to the existing $194 million Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant program, which currently supports 23 states. Under the bill’s provisions, states receiving funding would need to screen students for literacy challenges, notify parents of at-risk children, and evaluate teacher-preparation programs for alignment with research-based approaches.
The second measure, the 21st Century Dyslexia Act, would reclassify dyslexia within federal disability law as a distinct category rather than grouping it with other specific learning disabilities. The bill advanced on a 12-10 committee vote and defines dyslexia based on phonological processing difficulties. Supporters argue this classification could improve identification and access to services, drawing parallels to how autism was separately categorized. However, the proposal faced opposition from major disability advocacy organizations and researchers who contend that its definition based on intelligence measures may leave some children without needed services, potentially reverting to outdated identification models that many states have already abandoned.
The READ Act reflects momentum building around science-of-reading approaches, with more than 40 states having enacted related legislation since 2020. Multiple national and local reading advocacy groups have endorsed the federal measure. However, some education analysts question whether federal involvement is necessary given state-level progress. The legislation differs from previous federal reading initiatives, such as the Reading First program that operated from the early 2000s until 2009 with mixed results on comprehension outcomes.
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