Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Asking Republican Lawmakers to Change Deadline on Literacy Law

Friday, February 9th, 2024 -- 8:01 AM

(Danielle DuClos, Green Bay Press-Gazette) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is asking Republican lawmakers to change the deadline for implementing part of the state's recently passed literacy law, Act 20.

According to Danielle DuClos with the Green Bay Press-Gazette, State Superintendent Jill Underly sent a letter to lawmakers Feb. 1 saying that while DPI is on track to meet its statutory deadlines, both public and private schools "continue to convey genuine fear."

"Without additional flexibility concerning timelines, the initial rollout of this important work may be disrupted or worse yet, fail to take hold," Underly wrote in her letter. Act 20, which overhauled Wisconsin's reading instruction, was signed into law last summer.

The law creates a wave of new requirements for school districts to abandon some instructional practices as early as next school year and provide their teachers with time-intensive training by 2025.

Underly's letter was addressed to Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, who is the chair of the Assembly Committee on Education and was one of Act 20's authors, and Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, the chair of the Senate Committee on Education, among other Republican lawmakers.

The DPI's request came after the department received a Jan. 26 letter from a coalition of educational organizations asking for an extension on when schools need to start administering a universal reading screening test to 4-year-old kindergartners through third-graders.

The screening is required by Act 20 to measure student understanding of key reading skills like oral vocabulary and alphabet recognition. The goal of the screening test is to identify students who may be falling behind in reading by testing 4K students twice a year and kindergarten through third-grade students three times.

Students who score below the 25th percentile on the screening are considered "at-risk," according to Act 20, and will get additional diagnostic testing and instructional interventions, such as a personal reading plan.

The DPI is required to select the universal screening test by July, but that leaves districts with little time to train staff on the screening and begin administering it to students starting next school year.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.