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Two bills that would weave the science of reading into early literacy instruction in Michigan’s public schools will soon get a vote in the House of Representatives.
The bills, which were approved in the Senate in March, moved out of the House Education Committee Wednesday morning. The move comes after recently released state standardized test results showed third grade proficiency in reading and writing was at an all-time low at the end of the last school year, with only 39.6% of third graders considered proficient.
Proponents of the legislation pointed to the results on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, known as the M-STEP, as a reason to pass one of the bills as soon as possible.
“It seems to me, there are some rather obvious steps we haven’t taken yet,” Sen. Jeff Irwin, a Democrat from Ann Arbor who championed previous failed iterations of the bills for years, said last month. “I’m hoping we can move forward with those obvious steps by weaving the science of reading into our curriculum.”
While the proposed bills are designed to help kids with characteristics of dyslexia, those who support the legislation say it would support all children’s early literacy learning.
Dyslexia is a hereditary reading disability that affects around 5% to 20% of people. Students with dyslexia who go undiagnosed and without interventions are more likely to struggle in school. Studies show most people with dyslexia who get high-quality instruction early on, however, will become average readers.
The science of reading refers to a body of knowledge that emphasizes phonics along with building vocabulary and background knowledge.
Those opposed to the bills, mainly local district superintendents and administrators, worry school systems won’t receive the funding necessary to meet the proposed standards in the legislation. They also say the ongoing teacher shortage would make filling needed positions, such as literacy coaches, unfeasible.
Senate Bill 567 would require districts to screen all students for difficulty in decoding language and other characteristics of dyslexia. It would require interventions in the science of reading for struggling students. Those interventions would be based on each students’ needs and could include specialized phonics instruction, technology, or small group breakouts.
The bill called for districts to make those changes by the 2027-28 school year.
The amended version of the bill that moved out of committee Wednesday would give districts another year to comply with the new requirements and clarified that other types of instruction would be allowed after teachers attempt to use decoding, a key aspect of phonics instruction.
Another bill, Senate Bill 568, would put more stringent standards on teacher education programs. Universities would be required to provide instruction in the science of reading and best practices for teaching students with dyslexia.
Michigan has long had a literacy problem.
It was ranked 43rd in the country for fourth grade reading on the 2022 National Assessment for Educational Progress.
Michigan schools are not currently required to follow a set reading curriculum, though the state Department of Education gives some guidance on using evidence-based programs.
Reading instruction can vary widely within districts and even within classrooms in the same school, according to a 2022 policy brief by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, or EPIC. Among the districts that answered EPIC’s survey, many were using poorly rated or unrated curricula.
States that have passed bills similar to the ones proposed in Michigan have made improvements in early literacy scores, including Tennessee and Mississippi, Irwin said. Those bills served as a framework for his, he said.
SB 567 passed the committee vote 12-1, with Rep. Gregory Markkanen, a Republican from Hancock, abstaining. Rep. Dylan Wegela, a Democrat from Garden City, was the only vote against the bill.
SB 568 passed the committee vote 11-1, with Markkanen and Rep. Jaime Churches, a Democrat from Wyandotte, abstaining. Wegela voted against the bill.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
