New K–5 reading adoption

Mankato Area Public Schools is rolling out a new reading curriculum across kindergarten through fifth grade, part of a districtwide shift in how early literacy is taught. (news.google.com) (article.wn.com) The district’s 2025-26 local literacy plan says Mankato Public School District No. 77 is operating under Minnesota’s READ Act and has set K-5 reading goals tied to DIBELS benchmark scores and third-grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments results. The plan was submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education on June 16, 2025. (resources.finalsite.net) Minnesota law gives districts until the 2026-27 school year to provide evidence-based reading instruction focused on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, oral language, vocabulary and comprehension. The same law requires districts to train teachers and instructional support staff in approved reading instruction. (revisor.mn.gov) In plain terms, the state is pushing schools to teach reading more directly and in a set sequence, instead of relying on students to guess unfamiliar words from pictures, context or sentence structure. Minnesota’s READ Act materials say evidence-based instruction does not include the “three-cueing system.” (education.mn.gov 1) (education.mn.gov 2) The Minnesota Department of Education defines this approach as “structured literacy,” with explicit and sequential lessons in sounds, letters, decoding, vocabulary and comprehension. State guidance says that approach is consistent with the science of reading. (education.mn.gov) Mankato’s own literacy plan shows why the district is under pressure to raise results. It set a goal of moving the share of all students who meet or exceed standards on the third-grade reading Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment from 57.3% to 67.3% by 2025, while also aiming to raise results for Black students from 33.8% to 43.8% and for Hispanic or Latino students from 35% to 45%. (resources.finalsite.net) The same plan says grades kindergarten through fifth grade were targeting a 4% annual increase in the share of students at Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services schools who score at or above benchmark on DIBELS reading assessments, with a goal of reaching and maintaining at least 80% by spring 2025. (resources.finalsite.net) The READ Act also changed how schools check for reading trouble. Minnesota requires districts to screen every student in kindergarten through third grade three times a year and to include measures of foundational reading skills and characteristics of dyslexia. (revisor.mn.gov) (education.mn.gov) State officials say districts do not have to pick a curriculum from Minnesota’s published list of reviewed programs, but any new literacy curriculum purchased after July 1, 2023 must be evidence-based. That gives districts room to choose local materials while still meeting the state standard. (education.mn.gov 1) (education.mn.gov 2) For Mankato families, the practical change is likely to show up in classroom routines: more common lessons across elementary schools, more screening data sent home, and more direct work on sounds, spelling patterns and word reading in the early grades. The state’s deadline for full evidence-based instruction is the 2026-27 school year. (education.mn.gov) (revisor.mn.gov)