Policy and Legislation

This section provides summaries of major policy and legislative initiatives related to reading and reading instruction. The section will be updated regularly with information about new legislation, policy decisions by the US Department of Education and other agencies, and other developments.

No Child Left Behind

New education legislation called No Child Left Behind was passed by the U.S. Congress in December 2001 and signed by the President into law in January 2002. The law includes two programs, Reading First and Early Reading First, which aim to ensure that all children can read by the end of third grade.

The Reading First portion of the law designates The Partnership for Reading as the organization responsible for disseminating information about scientifically-based reading research. Specifically, the law directs The Partnership to:

• diseminate information on scientifically-based reading research on children, youth, and adults;
• identify and disseminate information about schools, local education agencies, and states that have developed and implemented effective reading programs; and
• support efforts to identify and disseminate information on reading programs that include the essential components of reading instruction - phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Activities The Partnership undertakes to meet these requirements are described on other pages in this site.