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2023 Wisconsin ACT 20: Preparing Principals for the 2024-2025 School Year

By: Attorneys Hunter Cone and Aleah Loll, Buelow Vetter Buikema Olson & Vliet

2023 Wisconsin Act 20 (“Act 20”) was enacted on July 19, 2023, as 2023 Assembly Bill 321. Act 20, also known as the “Right to Read Act,” codified a new literacy assessment system, which is effective for the 2024-2025 school year. Act 20 aims to enhance literacy outcomes by reforming early literacy education standards in Wisconsin. The Act's provisions apply to all students in grades 4K through grade 3, to allow students to achieve foundational literacy skills at an early age.

Implementing Screening Assessments

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, students enrolled in grades 4K through grade 3 in a public school district or independent charter school will be administered a reading readiness screener. The screeners are selected by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). For 4K learners, the screener will evaluate fundamental reading skills such as phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge. For learners in 5K through grade 3, the screener will evaluate phonemic awareness, decoding skills, alphabetic knowledge, letter sound knowledge and oral vocabulary.

The fundamental skills screener for 4K learners must be administered two times per year: first before the 45th day after the first day of the school term and again by the 45th day before the last day of the school term. The universal screening assessment for 5K through grade 3 learners must be administered three times per year: first before the 45th day after the start of the school term, in the middle of the school term, and by the 45th day before the end of the school term. For example, if school ends on June 6, the spring screener must be administered on or before April 22. As used in Act 20, the term “days” means calendar days. 

Note that 2023 Wisconsin Act 192 modified the timelines for administering the fundamental skills and universal screeners for the 2024-2025 school year only. As such, the screeners for the 2024-2025 school year must be administered according to the following timelines:

Fundamental Skills Screener 

  • Administer once after January 1, 2025, but no later than 45 days before the last day of the school term.

Universal Screener

  • Administer twice: once in the middle of the school term and again by the 45th day before the end of the school term.

Principals should prepare staff to administer the first universal screener for 5K through grade 3 in the middle of the school year and again by the 45th day before the end of the school term. In addition, principals should prepare staff to administer the fundamental skills screener to 4K learners after January 1, 2025, but no later than 45 days before the last day of the school term. To prepare staff to administer the screeners, principals may encourage staff to familiarize themselves with the screener selected by the DPI on July 15, 2024, aimswebPlus (a Pearson product).

Administering Diagnostic Assessments

Any child scoring below the 25th percentile on the universal screener is considered “at risk” and must undergo a diagnostic reading assessment. Ordinarily, this assessment must be administered after the first universal screener but no later than the second Friday of November, and within 10 days of the second universal screener. As mentioned above, Act 192 modified the requirements for administering the reading readiness screeners for the 2024-2025 school year which also modifies the requirements for administering the diagnostic assessment. The first diagnostic assessment for the 2024-2025 school year will only be required within 10 days of administering the first universal screener in the middle of the school year.

Act 20 does not mandate the use of a specific diagnostic assessment, but DPI does provide a list of recommended diagnostic reading assessments. Any assessment utilized by a district must include an evaluation of the following content areas: rapid naming, phonological awareness, word recognition, spelling, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral reading fluency and reading comprehension when appropriate. Each diagnostic assessment must have a sensitivity rate of at least 70 percent, a specificity rate of at least 80 percent, and include a growth measure.

Schools are required to notify families of the results of the diagnostic assessment. The notice should include the child's scores on the assessment, an explanation of the child’s skills in each of the literacy skills assessed, and the score that indicates whether a child is at risk. If the assessment indicates that a child is at risk, the notification must also include:

  • Information on how to initiate a special education referral;
  • A description of the common indicators and characteristics of dyslexia; and
  • Information about available interventions and accommodations for children exhibiting characteristics of dyslexia.

Changing Curriculum

Act 20 mandates all Wisconsin schools to implement “science-based early literacy instruction” in both standard curricula and individualized settings. This instruction is defined as instruction that is systematic and explicit, encompassing phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, building background knowledge, oral language development, vocabulary building, and instruction in writing, comprehension, and reading fluency.

Act 20 emphasizes a holistic approach to literacy, highlighting the importance of understanding the relationships between sounds and words. As a result, Act 20 ends the use of “three-cueing” instruction methods, which involve teaching students to read based on meaning, structure, syntax, visual cues, or memory. A common example of a three-cueing method is the use of “context clues.”

When evaluating already implemented curriculum under Act 20, the following questions are crucial:

  • Does the curriculum, intervention, or supplementary instructional resource follow a specific scope and sequence?
  • Does the curriculum, intervention, or supplementary instructional resource require learners to apply their phonics knowledge to decode unknown words?

If either question is answered in the negative, the curriculum does not comply with Act 20, jeopardizing the funding for that curriculum, intervention, or supplementary instructional resource.

To ensure compliance with the curriculum standards mandated by Act 20, principals should consult and familiarize themselves with WI Act 20 Curriculum Crosswalk Toolkit, which provides comprehensive guidance on Act 20’s mandate for a science-based curriculum. Principals should also ensure that staff are complying with the Act’s curriculum standards.

Training Requirements for Administrators

Act 20 requires any individual employed as a district reading specialist or principal of a school offering grades K-3 to receive training in science-based reading instruction by July 1, 2025. The training must meet the following criteria:

  • The provider provides evidence of at least 5 years of experience conducting evidence-aligned, systematic, structured literacy training specifically for school principals, administrators, and literacy teams.
  • The provider demonstrates that the training content is aligned with the National Reading Panel Report and subsequent updates of the research by the Institute of Education Sciences.
  • The provider requires that training include a substantial focus and understanding of direct instruction.
  • The provider delivers the training over at least 6 days.
  • The provider provides participants with activities to implement evidence-aligned systems and structures that effectuate change in the school or school district.
  • The provider delivers training that allows for a minimum of 30 participants.

Reading training is offered by the Leadership in Literacy Institute, but districts may select a different provider who meets the criteria identified above. Districts are responsible for ensuring that the provider selected to conduct reading training meets the Act 20 criteria.

Administrators who previously participated in reading training that meets the Act 20 criteria are not required to participate in another reading training. For example, training offered by CESA 6, 8, or 9 after May 1, 2021, and before July 1, 2024, that focused on science-based early reading instruction satisfies the Act 20 training mandate for teachers, principals, and reading specialists. Any administrator who participated in such training has already satisfied the Act 20 training requirements.

As building leaders, principals should ensure that not only have they received appropriate training in science-based reading instruction in accordance with Act 20 but that staff are appropriately trained as well. Since staff are not required to receive training until July 1, 2025, now is a good time for principals, in collaboration with other administrative staff, to develop a system for tracking which staff require training, which staff have completed training, and which training is used.

Conclusion

2023 Wisconsin Act 20 represents a significant shift in the approach to early literacy education in Wisconsin. Act 20 establishes a new literacy assessment system for the start of the 2024-2025 school year, with the goal of improving literacy outcomes statewide. The Act emphasizes science-based reading instruction and explicitly prohibits the use of "three-cueing" methods. To ensure adherence to these standards, Act 20 mandates the use of reading readiness screening and diagnostic assessments. Through these measures, Act 20 aims to ensure all students in 4K through grade 3 achieve literacy proficiency, thereby laying a stronger foundation for their future academic success. Below is a list of action steps principals can begin to take to ensure that staff are complying with the provisions of Act 20 at the outset of the 2024-2025 school year. More information can also be gathered from DPI’s FAQ page.

School Year Checklist

  • Begin to develop a system for tracking compliance with mandatory staff training.
  • Administer the first universal screener for 5K through grade 3 learners mid-school year.
  • Administer a diagnostic reading assessment within 10 days after the universal screener to any student who is “at risk” (i.e., any child who scores below the 25th percentile on any required subtest).
  • Notify parents and families with the results of universal screener no later than 15 days after the assessment is scored (Note: the 15-day window begins once a student has completed all required subtests).
  • Administer the fundamental skills screener for 4K learners after January 1, 2025, but no later than 45 days before the end of the school term.
  • Administer a diagnostic reading assessment to a pupil enrolled in 5K through grade 3 within 20 days of a request made by a teacher or parent, for requests submitted on or after January 1, 2025.
  • Administer the second universal screener for 5K through grade 3 learners by the 45th day before the end of the school term.
  • Ensure teachers, principals, and reading specialists receive appropriate training in science-based reading instruction by July 1, 2025.

This article was prepared by Attorneys Hunter Cone and Aleah Loll, Buelow Vetter Buikema Olson and Vliet. This article was designed to provide you with general authoritative information and commentary as a service to AWSA members. It should not be relied upon as legal advice.