Overview:
The bipartisan READ Act, introduced by Senators Cassidy and Hassan, would overhaul the federal government's largest literacy grant program to make science-of-reading instruction, early dyslexia screening, and parent notification the standard for states, in response to record-low NAEP reading scores.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), joined by Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) and Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO), introduced the Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development Act on Monday. The bipartisan measure, known as the READ Act, would modernize the federal government’s largest literacy grant program for the first time in roughly a decade and make evidence-based instruction the standard for state grant recipients rather than the exception.
The bill reforms the Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant, requiring states that receive the funding to build literacy instruction plans grounded in the “science of reading” and to put early literacy screening in place for young children. The approach leans on foundational components such as phonemic awareness, fluency, language structure, vocabulary, and background knowledge, and it directs states to make student outcome data public.
The need is widespread. Only about 35 percent of eighth-grade students were proficient in reading in 2024, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and that year’s NAEP also recorded the lowest average 12th-grade reading scores since the exam began in 1992. Millions of students are leaving high school unable to read proficiently, a gap that narrows their options for higher education, the workforce, and long-term economic mobility.
Advocates have described the READ Act as the most significant federal reading reform proposal in years, and with Democratic co-sponsors on board it is expected to clear Cassidy’s committee and could reach a floor vote.
A Senator’s Personal Stake
For Cassidy, the legislation is personal. The Louisiana Republican, the first physician to lead the HELP Committee, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that the issue is rooted in his own family. His daughter has dyslexia, a condition he said affects roughly one in five people and one he believes early screening can help address.
“There should not be a stigma of being dyslexic,” Cassidy told ABC News, describing it instead as a different way of learning to read that can be compensated for. With the right identification early on, he argued, a struggling reader can clear that initial hurdle and go on to learn alongside peers.
Cassidy, who lost his Republican primary in Louisiana two weeks ago and will leave the Senate next year, framed literacy as the heart of what schools do. “Education changed my life,” he said. He expressed confidence in the bill’s potential, telling the network, “If we can get this [READ Act] done, I think this can be profound.”
What The Bill Would Do
The READ Act aims to strengthen literacy instruction and reading outcomes by backing science-of-reading practices, improving how teachers are prepared, and widening access to high-quality materials and interventions. Specifically, the bill would:
- Modify the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant program by creating a new reservation of funds for grants to eligible low-performing states. Within one year of receiving the set-aside funds, those states must conduct a statewide literacy needs assessment and complete a comprehensive literacy instruction plan based on it.
- Support state implementation of evidence-based, science-of-reading practices, including by investing in literacy coaches and incentivizing the use of high-quality instructional materials.
- Require states to provide early literacy screening, including for dyslexia, at least once before third grade.
- Require grant-receiving states to evaluate their teacher preparation programs to ensure alignment with the science of reading.
- Require schools serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade to notify parents or guardians when a child is identified as at risk of reading difficulties or is performing below grade level — both at the start of the year and after any through-year literacy screening.
- Promote early identification and intervention for students at risk of reading difficulties, including dyslexia, through early screening.
- Protect and strengthen literacy research capacity through comprehensive centers and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
For Cassidy, the closing months of his Senate tenure are about cementing that work for fa
Parents, former secretaries line up behind the READ Act
The effort drew support from across the political spectrum and from advocates who say the policy grew out of grassroots organizing rather than Washington.
Earlier this year, the National Parents Union, which helped shape the policy behind the bill, convened a bipartisan Capitol Hill briefing with the George W. Bush Institute in partnership with Cassidy’s office. State education chiefs from around the country told attendees that statewide literacy strategies are working and that the federal government should catch up to states already seeing gains.
“This did not start in Washington. It started at kitchen tables and in community meetings, with parents who knew something was wrong when their child could not read the words on the page,” said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union. “The READ Act is what happens when parents lead and Washington finally follows. The last time parents reshaped federal education policy on this scale was in 1975, when families successfully fought to secure a free public education for every child with a disability. The READ Act carries that same legacy forward—proving once again that when parents organize, advocate, and persist, they can transform the future for millions of children. This legislation empowers families to continue the fight for evidence-based literacy instruction and better outcomes for students nationwide.”
Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who served under President Obama, pointed to gains in the South as proof the approach works. “We have known how to teach children to read for a very long time. The failure was never a lack of evidence. It was a lack of urgency and a lack of will. The READ Act takes what is working in states like Mississippi and Louisiana and makes it the standard instead of the exception, and it gives parents the honest information they need to fight for their own kids. There is nothing partisan about a child learning to read, and it is good to see Washington remember that,” Duncan said.
Margaret Spellings, who led the department under President George W. Bush, cast literacy as a question of national competitiveness. “Reading is more than just an education issue; it’s a workforce, competitiveness, and ultimately a moral issue that Americans want policymakers to address now. A Bipartisan Policy Center poll last December confirmed that Americans believe literacy is essential to opportunity, and they want leaders to work together to ensure it’s available to all kids. By strengthening federal support for evidence-based literacy instruction and giving parents real information about their child’s progress, the READ Act makes good on the belief that every child can learn to read,” Spellings said.
Co-sponsor Maggie Hassan echoed the urgency.
“In the greatest country in the world, we cannot resign ourselves to the fact that many children still struggle to read at grade level and that only one in three students leave high school as proficient readers,” co-sponsor Maggie Hassan, D-NH., said in a statement.
Some experts still caution that there is no single fix for the literacy crisis and argue that reading to children and other balanced strategies should accompany phonics-based instruction.
For Cassidy, the closing months of his Senate tenure are about cementing that work for families like his own.
