Iowa Gov. Reynolds signs law adding supports, requirements for early readers and teachers

ADEL — The importance of young students being proficient readers — and the dangers of what happens to them when they fall behind — was emphasized by Gov. Kim Reynolds and educators at a Central Iowa school district Tuesday as the governor signed into law requirements and supports for early readers and the college students training to teach them.

Under the new law, young students falling behind on reading skills will receive extra attention. Their parents will have the option for them to repeat a grade, and Iowa college students learning to become elementary school teachers will be assessed on their ability to teach young students how to read.

Reynolds signed the legislation at the Adel-De Soto-Minburn Community School District’s administration building, then visited one of the district’s elementary schools, where she sat with first-graders during an early reading exercise.

Studies repeatedly have shown the importance of young students being proficient readers by third grade, and drawn correlations between positive academic and social outcomes for proficient young readers and negative outcomes for struggling readers.

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Roughly 34 percent of Iowa’s third-grade students were not reading proficiently in 2023, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

“Reading proficiency by the third grade is a critical marker that if not met can put a child’s future at risk,” Reynolds said. “Thankfully, the performance of districts like ADM shows what’s possible when teaching techniques draw on proven practices grounded in an evidence-based approach known as the science of reading, while also emphasizing tailored interventions for students that are struggling.”

Reynolds was joined at the bill-signing ceremony by Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow, ADM Executive Director of Teaching and Learning and Communication Travis Wilkins, and multiple state legislators.

Wilkins said 25 percent of ADM’s K-12 students were not proficient readers before the district sought assistance. He said the district worked with the University of Iowa’s Reading Research Center and the Heartland Area Education Agency to help train teachers on early reading instruction and curriculum.

Now, Wilkins said, 90 percent of ADM’s third- through 11th-grade students are proficient readers, and 95 percent of the district’s high school students are proficient in reading and writing.

“These folks partnered with us side-by-side and brought in resources, evidence-based interventions. They taught us how to look at data and then help support us as administrators to take that message to teachers, and then sat beside our teachers in day-to-day, helping us make instructional decisions for students,” Wilkins said. “That brought to us the knowledge of how the brain learns to read, and it changed our practices.”

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Under the new law, Iowa college students learning to become elementary teachers will be required to take the nationally recognized Foundations of Reading assessment, an exam used to determine whether an individual is equipped to teach young students how to read. The Iowa Department of Education will collect and publish the aggregate results of those assessments, showing how many students passed the test and how many did not.

Reynolds’ original proposal would have required all Iowa teachers to pass the test; that requirement was removed from the bill approved by state lawmakers.

Also under the new law, kindergarten through sixth-grade students who are struggling to read will be provided with a personalized reading plan, and their parents will be notified and given the option to have their student repeat the grade. If a parent requests their student be retained, the school will be required to honor that request.

For many Iowa schools, those supports for struggling early readers already are common practice.

“This work, investing in the science of reading with teachers and families all across Iowa, truly changes lives,” Snow said. “And we’ve seen evidence-based reading instruction and interventions work for students here at ADM, across Iowa and across the nation.”

The new law is a streamlined version of a measure Reynolds proposed earlier this year. She introduced the proposal as part of her push to improve literacy and reading instruction.

The governor said during her Condition of the State address in January that although Iowa students’ reading scores largely have held steady since the pandemic, the state should do more to improve those outcomes.

The proposal was supported by the vast majority of legislators. The bill, House File 2618, passed the Senate unanimously and the House on a 92-3 vote.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com