Act 20: Resources

Communication about Reading Readiness Assessment (Family/Caregiver Letters)

To support local education agencies (LEAs) in meeting/exceeding the parent/caregiver communication requirements within Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has prepared a series of four letter templates. These templates include: 

• an optional introductory letter explaining what to expect in the upcoming early literacy screening; 
• a letter to be sent after the early literacy screening, which includes the required communication per Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016; 
• a letter inviting parents/caregivers to participate in writing their child’s personal reading plan (PRP); and 
• a letter to accompany a student’s PRP, including the required communications per Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016. 

Supporting Communication about Reading Readiness Assessments includes guidance and letter templates.

Return to the menu

Curriculum

In addition to being responsible for providing early literacy instruction that meets the requirements in Act 20, public school districts and independent charter schools are also responsible for providing instruction that meets all state and federal requirements, including, but not limited to Wisconsin State Statute 121.02(1)(L)4 and Wisconsin State Statute 118.01(2)(c)7 and 8 , often known together as Act 31. 

Per Wis. Stat. §§ 118.015 "science-based early reading instruction” means instruction that is systematic and explicit and consists of at least all of the following:

1. Phonological awareness, including word awareness, rhyme recognition, repetition and creation of alliteration, syllable counting or identification, onset, and rime manipulation.
2. Phonemic awareness, including phoneme identification, isolation, blending, segmentation, addition, substitution, and deletion.
3. Phonics.
4. Building background knowledge.
5. Oral language development.
6. Vocabulary building to develop lexical and morphological knowledge.
7. Instruction in writing.
8. Instruction in comprehension.
9. Reading fluency.

Per Wis. Stat. §§ 118.015, beginning on July 21, 2023, no school board, operator of a charter school, or governing body of a private school participating in a parental choice program may purchase curricula or instructional materials that include 3-cueing (118.015(1m)(d)). Further, beginning in the 2024-25 school year, no public school, including a charter school, or private school participating in a parental choice program may provide instruction that incorporates 3-cueing in the core reading curriculum for grades kindergarten to 3 or in supplemental materials, including materials used for reading intervention, for pupils in grades kindergarten to 3.  “Three-cueing” means any model, including the model referred to as meaning, structure, and visual cues, or MSV, of teaching a pupil to read based on meaning, structure and syntax, and visual cues or memory (118.015(1c)(c)).

Click here to access DPI guidance about word-solving in a science-based early literacy classroom. Word solving, which is using the letter-sound relationship (phonics) to read and spell words, is the result of explicit and systematic instruction. The guidance document linked above explains what word-solving does and does not look like in a science-based early literacy classroom. 

Curriculum List (Updated 12/6/24)

The Department of Public Instruction has adopted the following list of early literacy curricula as required by Wisc. §§118.015(1m)(b). This list includes the two curricula recommended by the Early Literacy Curriculum Council for use in school year 25-26 and the four curricula previously recommended by the Early Literacy Curriculum Council.

1. *Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3 (Open Up Resources, 2022)
2. *Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3 (CKLA, Amplify Education, 2022)
3. *EL Education K-3 Language Arts (Open Up Resources, 2017)
4. **HMH Into Reading with Amira (HMH, 2023)
5. **Wit and Wisdom with Geodes (Great Minds, 2023) and Fundations® (Wilson Language Training®, 2020)
6. *Wit and Wisdom with Geodes (Great Minds, 2023) and Really Great Reading (Countdown 2017, Blast Foundations 2014, HD Word 2015)

Find DPI's full December 6, 2024 letter to the Joint Committee on Finance here. 

Find the Council's letter to DPI (November 7, 2024) here.

When available, the summary of the Early Literacy Curriculum Council's 24-25 curriculum submission ratings will be posted here. 

Find a summary of the Early Literacy Curriculum Council's 23-24 curriculum submission ratings here.

Find a summary of DPI's 23-24 curriculum submission ratings and comparisons to the Early Literacy Curriculum Council and to other states here.

Find DPI's full February 2024 memo with its11 early literacy curricula recommendations to the Joint Committee on Finance at this link. Find the Early Literacy Curriculum Council's letter with recommendations at this link.

*Districts that purchase these materials, including consumables needed to implement these materials, on or after January 1, 2024 are eligible for a partial reimbursement grant.

**Districts that purchase these materials, including consumables needed to implement these materials, on or after December 6, 2024 are eligible for a partial reimbursement grant.

Note that these grants must be prorated based on the number of districts that apply. DPI cannot guarantee any specific amount of funding. Similar to federal funding grant reimbursements, districts will need to provide invoices in the claiming process as evidence that eligible titles were purchased within the eligible date range.

At this time, DPI is unable to implement the partial curriculum reimbursement grant because the Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance has not released the funds for this program to DPI. It is unclear when DPI might receive these funds and implement this grant program.

Curriculum Crosswalk Toolkit

Schools and districts not using a curriculum from the approved list may form a team and use the Wisconsin Act 20 Curriculum Crosswalk Toolkit found at this link to document whether the early literacy instructional materials they are using meet the Act 20 definition of science-based early literacy instruction.

The Curriculum Crosswalk Toolkit does not need to be completed; it is intended as a support for districts to document and/or evaluate their literacy instructional materials.

Return to the menu

District Early Literacy Remediation Plan

Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016 requires that each school district or independent charter school create and publish an early literacy remediation plan that applies to grades 5K through grade 3. It includes some elements that focus on all students and some elements that focus on students in need of additional supports. For students in need of additional supports, the early literacy remediation plan, is a representation of only part of a local equitable multi-level system of support. Per Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016, the early literacy remediation plan must only detail supports provided to students performing below the 25th percentile on the reading readiness assessment(s) and engaged in a personal reading plan, and therefore, does not provide parents or caregivers with a complete picture of the entire continuum of supports for reading.

The Early Literacy Remediation Plan Toolkit is available at this link.

While these optional resources were designed to support the development of early literacy remediation plans based on the requirements of Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016, each school/district maintains local decision-making authority and should utilize the expertise of their school communities when designing early literacy remediation plans. 

Return to the menu

Family History Survey

Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016 part of 2023 Wisconsin Act 20 (Act 20) requires local education agencies (LEAs) to conduct “diagnostic assessments” to any student in 5K through grade 3 who obtains a score below the 25th percentile on the reading readiness screener. As part of the diagnostic assessment, LEAs must include a “family history survey,” defined as “a questionnaire that includes questions about previous recommendations for summer reading support or outside tutoring, general interest in reading and books, family history of characteristics of dyslexia, and any known family struggles in reading or spelling” (118.016(1)(d)). LEAs must provide the family history survey; parents/caregivers are not required to respond.

DPI's Family History Survey: Sample and Guidance, includes:

• options for administering the family history survey
• considerations for choosing how and when to administer the family history survey
• considerations for meaningful family engagement
• a sample family history survey

The sample survey is available in English, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Hmong, Karen, Somali, and Spanish. All translations are found at the end of the document linked above.

Return to the menu

Personal Reading Plan

Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016 mandates criteria for supporting 5K-3rd grade students scoring below the 25th percentile on a state reading readiness assessment. Specifically, schools/district must engage in collaborative efforts to identify those students’ literacy strengths and needs in order to develop personal reading plans to advance their early literacy proficiency.

At minimum, these personal reading plans for 5K-3rd grade students must include the following components:

• Universal instruction
• Areas of literacy skill needs
• Literacy goals and benchmarks
• Reading interventions and instructional services
• Progress monitoring
• Additional instructional services
• Support strategies for the parents/caregivers
• Signature of parents/caregivers after reviewing the plan

The Personal Reading Plan Toolkit is available at this link.

Information about the intersection between a personal reading plan and an individualized education plan (IEP) is available at this link.

While these optional resources were designed to support the development of personal reading plans based on the requirements of Wis. Stat. §§ 118.016, each school/district maintains local decision-making authority and should utilize the expertise of their school communities when designing personal reading plans.

Return to the menu