The Alaska Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 111, which seeks to expand universal, voluntary Pre-K and other early learning services, establishes a statewide K-3rd grade reading intervention program, and codifies support for virtual education.
The legislation seeks to improve student outcomes through several avenues. In addition to recognizing that students must be ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. The Reads Act establishes a financial incentive for districts to improve the quality of their early education programs. It also creates a targeted grant program for low performing districts that need to develop or improve their early education programs. The Reads Act calls on the Department of Education and Early Development to establish assessment tools to identify students that are falling behind. The “Read By 9 Program” would then direct school districts to provide intervention services to those students that need it. The testing process aims to help Alaska students. In addition to the assistance provided to students, the Reads Act ensures that teachers are prepared to meet the challenge.
Sen. Roger Holland (Anchorage) said:
“I do appreciate the work and energy that my colleagues and our staff put into this bill. They were challenging moments where we struggled to find common ground. But we persisted and created a piece of legislation that I believe will put Alaska on a better path. We cannot fix Alaska’s education problems here in this body. The real work has to be done in a classroom, but we need to provide the tools and the funding to help our students and their teachers succeed in that effort. Senate Bill 111, I see, is the way forward on this effort. The time for this bill was way past due. It is appropriate that we are taking this vote on Education Sharing Day.”
The bill also adds six reading specialist positions at DEED that would directly work with teachers across the state to improve the quality of reading instruction in Alaska. Additionally, it requires the Board of Education to establish training and testing requirements in evidence-based reading instruction.
The bill heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.