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Reading is a Human Right
 
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Call to Action

 
 

Educate and Advocate with Your Local Schools:

  • The Literacy Next has some great tips HERE for how to help your school with the transition to a Structured Literacy Approach.

  • Find out who your elected representatives are and schedule a coffee date with them to talk Structured Literacy! Look up your state representatives and senators HERE!

  • Attend School Board meetings. Sign up to speak and share your story. 

  • Become involved on your school’s committees including the PTA, Principal’s Advisory Council and your school’s educational foundation. 

  • Find out what curriculum your school uses and if it’s an evidence-based Structured Literacy approach. Most reading programs are NOT backed by Science (read more about that in Education Week). Structured Literacy is the most effective way to teach ALL children to read, but we need to help raise awareness for the Science of Reading and advocate for change.

  • Advocate for your school to provide teacher training and professional development opportunities such as Orton Gillingham or LETRS training for your school’s teachers. 

 

Educate and Advocate with Policy Makers:

There are so many ways to help raise awareness through education and advocacy for Structured Literacy and the Science of Reading. 

  • SHOW UP at the capitol during your state’s legislative session. Show up at local and state school board meetings. Make public comment. Meet with your representatives and senators, and let them know you are concerned about the literacy crisis! Sign up to testify in committee during hearings for bills you support.

  • Put together one-sheet flyers of data and facts about literacy so that you can provide information and statistics to back up the personal stories you share while you advocate. Here is an example of one we created for our legislative advocacy in Georgia as we helped secure full bipartisan support for HB538, the Georgia Early Literacy Act, a sweeping piece of literacy legislation that was passed and signed into law in 2023.

  • Excel in Education has a comprehensive report on the literacy policy in all 50 states. This is a great resource to understand where your state is at and what other states are doing. Hopefully they update it for 2025 because new pieces of literacy policy and legislation have been passed since this was published: https://excelined.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ExcelinEd-50-States-Early-Literacy-Report-2024.pdf.

  • Here is a helpful Advocacy Tool Kit from the International Dyslexia Association:  https://dyslexiaida.org/advocacy-toolkit/

  • Find out if your state currently has a Dyslexia law with this helpful directory from the International Dyslexia Association.

  • This primer from Wrightslaw “How Can I Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Reading Program” goes into great detail about the I.D.E.A. (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act) and every child’s legal right to a F.A.P.E. (Free and Appropriate Public Education) and includes great advice and resources for making sure your school follows the intent of the law.