What you need to know: Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, California’s kindergarten, first, and second grade students will be annually screened with newly approved tools for reading difficulties, providing early identification and support for 1.2 million students. 

SACRAMENTO - On Dec 17, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California’s Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel has identified and approved reading difficulties risk screening instruments. Local educational agencies (LEAs) can use these tools to meet a new requirement taking effect for the 2025-26 school year to annually screen all kindergarten through second grade students for risk of reading difficulties, including dyslexia.
 
Current law does not require California’s students to be screened for reading difficulties. Identifying and addressing reading difficulties earlier in childhood can help students succeed and prevent them from falling behind their peers. In partnership with the legislature, the 2023 Budget Act signed by the Governor required that beginning with the 2025-26 school year, students in kindergarten through second grade be screened for risk of reading difficulties using the tools approved by the panel of experts appointed to the Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel on December 16, 2024. This change will ensure that 1.2 million students receive risk identification and any needed interventions early in their educational journeys. 

“I know from my own challenges with dyslexia that when we help children read, we help them succeed. By finalizing the reading difficulties screening tools, we are taking an important step toward early, universal reading screenings for California’s kids. When added to other investments that we have made to funding literacy coaches and reading specialists at high-needs schools, as well as professional development for teachers in the state, we are doubling down on our commitment to ensure no student falls behind in their reading, or on their path toward a happy, successful future.” - Governor Gavin Newsom

State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond: “Early identification of reading difficulties is essential for providing the individualized supports needed for long-term success in reading. By identifying potential issues when students are beginning school, we can mitigate more substantial issues later, ensure better educational outcomes, and support a love of learning for all students. We appreciate the great efforts of the panel’s Chair, Dr. Young-Suk Kim, Vice Chair Yesenia Guerrero and their colleagues in taking on this work and meeting this critical milestone in less than a year.”

How we got here

The Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel - led by Dr. Young-Suk Kim, Professor and Associate Dean at the University of California, Irvine’s School of Education, and Yesenia Guerrero, a special education teacher at Lennox School District - consists of nine experts who were appointed by the State Board of Education (SBE) on January 18, 2024. The Panel was tasked with creating an approved list of evidence-based, culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate screening instruments, by December 31, 2024 to assess pupils in kindergarten, first, and second grade for risk of reading difficulties, including possible neurological disorders such as dyslexia. 

The list of screening instruments approved this week by the Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel and associated resources can be found HERE.

Efforts to strengthen literacy for California’s kids

Addressing literacy has been a key focus of Governor Newsom’s administration. In partnership with the Legislature and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, California has made historic investments in evidence-based strategies and adopted new policies focused on literacy and improving student achievement on California’s English Language Arts/English Language Development standards that collectively comprise California’s comprehensive Literacy Strategy, including screening for reading difficulties as described above, and:

- Literacy Coaches: The state recently announced the deployment of an initial cohort of more than 2,000 literacy coaches and reading specialists in hundreds of California’s highest needs schools

- Literacy Roadmap: The California Department of Education (CDE) anticipates that it will begin releasing grade level modules for the Literacy Roadmap during the 2024-25 school year. Modules will be released throughout the 2024-25 school year to provide all educators with specific guidance on how to implement evidence-based literacy instruction and targeted interventions for native English

- Stronger Accountability: The 2024-25 Budget requires LEAs with unexpended funds from the $6.2 billion Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant (LREBG) to perform a needs assessment, with a particular focus on addressing low performance on the English Language Arts assessment, and incorporate into their annual budget planning process and transparently explain how they will use those funds to address the identified needs.

Full Implementation of Transitional Kindergarten (TK): Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, universal TK will be fully implemented, and all four-year olds will be eligible. In addition to other benefits, universal TK eligibility will provide a stronger foundation for literacy for all students.