Reading Matters: Life, Literacy and the Pursuit of (Gulp) Bipartisanship
His political career was wrecked by Donald Trump, but lame duck Republican Senator Bill Cassidy is still passionately fighting on behalf of those with dyslexia and everyone's right to read.
(Editor’s note: The “Right to Read” has been a core issue for Newsmakers since 2018, when we first began publishing the work of Santa Barbara education journalist and literacy advocate Cheri Rae. Although her efforts more often focus locally or on Sacramento, Cheri today reports on a significant development in the U.S. Senate — a rare glimmer of good news from Washington, D.C., as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. —jr)
By Cheri Rae
If there’s one thing that most people can agree on in these fiercely partisan times, it’s the importance of learning to read. Although it is one of the first goals little children set for themselves — to our collective national, state and local shame — only half of them achieve it these days.
Astonishingly, however, there is some good education-related news out of Washington, D.C., with the introduction of bipartisan legislation aimed at turning more of these literacy dreams into reality.
S.4689 is now before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
It’s called the READ Act, which stands for “Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development,” authored by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who managed to gain bipartisan support for his bill.
Cassidy was joined by colleagues on his side of the aisle, including Jim Banks (R-IN) and Tim Scott (R-SC). Democrats who signed on include Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who has been outspoken about his dyslexia since he was governor of the Rocky Mountain state.
Among the pronouncements in the bill:
Literacy is a cornerstone for personal growth, economic opportunity, and a strong society.
The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 35 percent of the eighth-grade class of 2024 were proficient in reading; and one-third of eighth graders performed below the basic level of the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the highest percentage ever recorded.
The United States is in the midst of a national literacy crisis, requiring strong federal leadership in partnership with state educational agencies and local educational agencies to ensure that all students have the foundational literacy skills to thrive.
If those reasons don’t get your attention, how about this fiscal issue listed in the bill:
Illiteracy costs taxpayers $224,000,000,000 annually and costs United States companies nearly $40,000,000,000 annually.
The measure takes comprehensive aim at increasing literacy proficiency via support for state educational agencies; improvement of teacher training; promotion of early identification and appropriate intervention for those with reading difficulties, including dyslexia; support for all students and parental notification for those at risk of reading difficulties; and support for literacy research.
California-based literacy leader Kareem Weaver, who was featured in “The Right to Read,” an inspiring film that premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, praised the legislative effort.
“The READ Act moves us from slogans to systems: screen children early, tell parents the truth, use instruction that matches the evidence, prepare teachers before day one, and make the data public enough that no one can hide failure behind averages,” Weaver said.
Senator on a Mission. As a longtime dyslexia and literacy advocate, Cassidy has been on my radar for a long time. Although we’re on opposite sides of the political spectrum on most issues, we’re in complete alignment when it comes to concern about dyslexia and the commitment to teaching individuals to read.
He may now be a beleaguered lame duck — having been primaried for opposing the current president — but he hasn’t stopped his years-long mission to improve literacy across the nation.
Cassidy and his wife Laura, both physicians, are the parents of a dyslexic daughter. Together the family experienced firsthand the painful struggles and frustrations so familiar to those just trying to get proper instruction — and limit the emotional and psychological damage — for children with the learning difference, which affects one in five individuals.
In 2013, the couple turned their advocacy into action when they worked to establish a tuition-free public charter school for dyslexic students, known as the Louisiana Key Academy. Endorsed by the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, it is now a successful, innovative network of four campuses that teach dyslexic students in the way they learn.
In 2018, Cassidy sponsored successful bipartisan prison reform legislation known as the First Step Act, which requires screening for dyslexia and proper instruction during the intake process in federal prisons.
“Having treated patients in prisons, I learned that illiteracy often leads someone to turn to a life of crime,” he testified at the time. “Dyslexia is a leading cause of illiteracy, so to address illiteracy and incarceration, we must better address dyslexia.”
“It makes sense that if someone learns to read, they’re less likely to end up in prison and more likely to be a productive member of society. And if someone ends up in prison, they’re more likely to be able to get a job and keep it once they are released,” he added. “In the end, I think this will save some people from the prison system, make our streets safer, and save taxpayers money.”
Cassidy asserts that the more children who learn to read, the more freedom they will have to reach their full potential, without disastrous detours off their pathway to success. In the Senate, he has continued to monitor the Bureau of Prisons’ implementation of the dyslexia provisions in the legislation.
By addressing the multiple wide-ranging consequences of low literacy, his READ Act is intended to put a plug in the school-to-prison pipeline — called the “illiteracy-to-prison pipeline” by the World Literacy Foundation.
Then and Now. At this point, literacy advocates who have been around the track a few times might well be thinking, “Here we go again.”
They still remember the findings of the prestigious National Reading Panel, established by Congress in 1997. Back then, a group of 14 distinguished scientists, university faculty members, educators, administrators and parents worked together to review more than 100,000 studies of how children learn to read, identify effective instructional methods, and recommend best practices in reading instruction.
In 2000, the panel issued a report titled “Teaching Children to Read.” Those experienced researchers emphasized the fundamental skills children must be taught to master reading proficiency: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Tragically, the findings went nowhere and were swiftly buried in the days of the punitive No Child Left Behind Act and the subsequent Every Student Succeeds Act.
Today, very few educators seem to have even heard of the massive effort undertaken by the National Reading Panel, or the important results of their work.
Had it been heeded, we might have completely avoided the travesty of the “balanced literacy” instructional approach that failed so many for so long.
Thankfully, that theory has been increasingly discredited locally and across the nation, with the now-widespread recognition of the validity of scientific findings in reading instruction.
Bottom Line. More than a quarter-century after the National Reading Panel, the READ Act requires that reading be taught based on foundational components of literacy: phonemic awareness, fluency, language structure and vocabulary, as well as background knowledge and literacy knowledge.
This bipartisan bill puts all the endless talk into action by seeking to ensure that students have access to the proper reading resources they need.
As the nation celebrates its 250th, here’s hoping literacy leadership is treated with more respect and implemented with more integrity this time around. It might be the best hope we have for children across the nation to finally gain their right to read.
As Weaver noted, “That’s not red or blue. That’s the floor we owe every child.”