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Early reading news: summer 2026 in review

October 16, 2026By The DecodiVerse Team
Reading newsroundupsummer reviewstate-policyscreeningparentseducators

Published in October 2026, this looks back at early reading news from July to September 2026. Several US states spent the summer putting reading laws into practice, with literacy coaches, screening rules and third-grade promotion rules.

Abroad, Ontario brought phonics (teaching how letters stand for sounds) into kindergarten, and Northern Ireland set a new literacy and numeracy baseline.

Two stories with their own explainers

  • Test scores. Spring reading results rose in Indiana and Tennessee and fell in New York City. Our scores explainer publishes on October 21.
  • The federal bills. The House passed H.R. 7890, the Science of Reading Act of 2026, on September 16, and the Senate referred it to its education committee (HELP) on September 17. As of October 8, official records show no action on it since then. The Senate's READ Act (S. 4689) has been on the Senate calendar since August 6. Our explainer publishes on November 11.

Literacy coaches: laws into practice

Georgia (August 6)

Georgia's Early Literacy Act of 2026 (HB 1193), signed on May 5, creates a grant program to hire a literacy coach in every elementary school, the governor's office said. On August 6, Atlanta News First reported coaches going into classrooms to give teachers real-time feedback.

  • For K–2 families: you can ask whether your school has its coach yet.

Missouri (September 30)

Five rural Phelps County districts all saw large jumps in reading in the program's first year, 2024–25, of a donor-funded program where coaches from the nonprofit TNTP worked with kindergarten and first-grade teachers, The 74 reported on September 30. The state is expanding the model, its literacy coordinator, Heather Knight, said.

  • For K–2 families: you can ask whether your school is getting state literacy coaching this year.

California (July 20)

Districts that used state grants for literacy coaches, reading specialists or teacher training saw significant improvements in reading scores, a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) study by Sarah Novicoff found, CalMatters reported on July 20. Many, especially rural ones, struggled to hire coaches. PPIC's August overview says these programs have been shown to raise test scores in targeted schools.

  • For K–2 families: you can ask whether your school has a coach or reading specialist.

New screening rules

A screener is a short check that flags children who may be at risk of reading difficulties; it doesn't diagnose. See what reading screeners measure.

Texas (July 30)

The Texas Education Agency's July 30 letter says state law requires universal dyslexia screening in kindergarten (by the end of the school year) and first grade (by January 31, 2027). Kindergartners also take a reading readiness check by the 60th school day.

  • For K–2 families: a result is a flag for a closer look, not a diagnosis. With questions about a result or an evaluation, ask the school in writing; rules vary, so check your state.

Third-grade reading and being held back

Indiana (August 11)

In 2026, 88.7% of Indiana third graders passed IREAD, the state's third-grade reading test, a fifth yearly rise and above the 2019 rate of 87.3%, Chalkbeat Indiana and WFYI (published by WBOI) reported on August 11. As of August 11, how many will repeat third grade hadn't been released.

  • For K–2 families: all Indiana second graders now take IREAD, Chalkbeat reports. You can ask when, and what help follows if a child doesn't pass.

Oklahoma (August 18)

Under Senate Bill 1778, signed April 21, from 2027–28 third graders who score below basic on the state reading test and don't reach an acceptable score on a state-approved alternative test will be held back unless they qualify for a good-cause exemption, the enrolled bill says. By August 18 the state still hadn't chosen that test, Oklahoma Voice said. Governor Kevin Stitt said at the April 21 signing that the law means acting before a reading gap becomes lifelong, KGOU reported. Chris Brewster, superintendent of Santa Fe South Charter Schools, said the possible statewide impact seems very punitive to children, though he's not against holding schools accountable, Oklahoma Voice reported.

  • For K–2 families: last spring's first graders are among the first it will apply to. You can ask what reading help is in place now.

Tennessee (July 1)

Third-grade English language arts results were Tennessee's highest since at least 2017, the state said on June 24, up 3.2 percentage points from last year. Chalkbeat Tennessee reported on July 1 that a Tennessee SCORE analysis found student cohorts lost reading proficiency as they moved through middle school; the department's June 24 release describes sustained momentum in middle school.

  • For K–2 families: the department said individual results would be in the TCAP Family Portal from July.

Debates and critiques

Decodable books (September 5)

Decodable books use mostly words a child can sound out with the patterns taught so far, plus a few tricky words. On his blog, Shanahan on Literacy, Timothy Shanahan argued on September 5 that direct studies have found only fleeting benefits from decodables, and that repeating one pattern so heavily can mislead children about how consistently English is spelled. Beginners should still get decoding practice, he says, and decodables should include common words that break the pattern, like come and done.

Disclosure: DecodiVerse makes decodable storybooks with the help of AI.

Two ways to teach phonics (August 13)

Education Week reported on August 13 on a debate between Orton-Gillingham approaches, which teach letter sounds and many rules about word structure, and linguistic (speech-to-print) phonics, which starts from spoken sounds and shows how they're spelled in real words. Supporters say linguistic phonics can get children reading faster, which Education Week says has little research behind it. Orton-Gillingham-inspired providers say detailed rules are needed because English spelling is so irregular; evidence on Orton-Gillingham approaches is mixed, Education Week notes. Little research compares programs head to head, the outlet adds.

  • For K–2 families: you can ask which phonics program your child's class uses.

Reading at home and getting books

Shared reading at home (August 31)

About 85% of US preschool-aged children were read to at least three times a week in 2019; after the pandemic began, that share fell below 75% and stayed there, a study by Rutgers University's National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), posted August 31, found. Each additional 10 print books at home was associated with 8% higher odds of frequent shared reading, NIEER says. The study identified correlations, not causes, Education Week noted on September 11.

  • For K–2 families: the study covers 3- to 5-year-olds. Reading aloud stays worthwhile once school starts; see reading together.

What parents are hearing (August 28)

In an August 28 column for The 74, Chad Aldeman set New York City's spring family survey beside the city's state reading test results, and argued that "many parents may not be getting a clear signal that anything is wrong."

The Imagination Library (August 31)

After Dolly Parton's death in August, the Dollywood Foundation said it remains committed to continuing her Imagination Library, Education Week reported on August 31. It mails free books to children from birth to age 5 through local partners in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

Beyond the US

England (June 22)

On June 22, just before the period this review covers, the Standards and Testing Agency published the 2026 phonics screening check threshold mark: 31, the first change since the check began in 2012, when it was 32. Results for Year 1 (typically age 6), out October 8, will be covered in our scores explainer, which publishes on October 21.

  • For families in England: the check shows whether a child met the expected standard in phonic decoding (turning letters into sounds and blending them).

Australia (August 5)

ACARA's 2026 NAPLAN results, released August 5, were broadly stable nationally, though average reading scores in Years 5, 7 and 9 were lower than in 2025.

Ontario (September)

Ontario's Kindergarten Curriculum (2026) replaces the 2016 program from the 2026–27 school year, adding systematic and explicit reading instruction and keeping play-based learning, the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board says. Writing on July 8, two Queen's University professors said its new expectations include phonemic awareness (isolating, blending and segmenting the sounds in spoken words) and phonics (learning the relationships between letters and sounds), in response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission's Right to Read inquiry.

  • For families in Ontario: you can ask how the new expectations show up in class.

Northern Ireland (September 23)

Northern Ireland's first literacy and numeracy assessment results in more than 20 years, published September 23, drew on a representative sample of 358 schools. Almost three in ten pupils weren't reaching the expected standard in literacy and numeracy by the end of primary school; Education Minister Paul Givan says the results show a clear need for reform.

  • For families in Northern Ireland: these are national figures from a sample, not any one school's or child's results.

If it helps to see what a decodable story looks like, you can read a sample story built from the phonics patterns a child is learning.

How we report: our news standards.

Sources

Last checked: 2026-10-08

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