The passage of Senate Bill 801 with overwhelming bipartisan support marks an important step forward
Harrisburg, PA, October 9, 2024 — Teach Plus Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that empowers teachers to lead student-centered improvements in educational policy and instructional practice, celebrates the advancement of Senate Bill 801, which passed the Pennsylvania House and Senate with unanimous support and awaits Governor Shapiro’s signature. The bill, which requires the development of state-recommended lists of curricular materials, universal screeners, and teacher training providers aligned with the science of reading, will bring Pennsylvania closer to evidence-based literacy instruction in the early grades.
Teach Plus Pennsylvania Executive Director Laura Boyce said: “Frederick Douglass wrote that ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free,’ because literacy is fundamentally connected to liberation and self-determination. But today in Pennsylvania, according to the Nation’s Report Card, only one in three students can read proficiently by fourth grade, a critical benchmark for future academic and life success. SB 801 is an important step toward solving Pennsylvania’s literacy crisis, but we know that more must be done to accomplish the truly comprehensive reforms that have led to major reading gains in other states.”
In its original form, SB 801 would have required all Pennsylvania public schools adopt K-3 reading curricula off an approved list, implement universal screening and interventions for struggling readers in K-3, and provide teacher training aligned with the science of reading; the original bill also would have provided funding to help schools pay for these changes. While the funding and requirements were stripped from the bill through amendments this spring and fall, the final signed legislation ensures schools have guidance in selecting materials and professional development providers for the first time. Teach Plus and 24 other organizations have called on Governor Shapiro to invest $100 million in the 2025-26 state budget to fund the full suite of policies in the original SB 801, and Teach Plus teacher leaders are continuing to raise their voices on the importance of evidence-based literacy instruction rooted in the science of reading.
Teach Plus Senior Policy Fellow and School District of Philadelphia teacher Kristyn Kahalehoe said: “The passage of SB 801 should be celebrated by teachers, parents, and students across the commonwealth. There has been ineffective literacy instruction for far too long in Pennsylvania, and this is a crucial start towards solving a literacy crisis that has been plaguing our state and country.”
Teach Plus Coalition Manager Rachael Garnick said: “We applaud Senators Ryan Aument and Anthony Williams and Representatives Jason Ortitay and Justin Fleming for championing the science of reading in the legislature, and we look forward to Governor Shapiro and other legislative leaders becoming champions for early literacy in the upcoming budget and legislative cycle. Teach Plus will be launching an early literacy statewide coalition in early 2025 to ensure we build the political will for comprehensive reading reform in Pennsylvania. Every child deserves the freedom that comes with the ability to read.”
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus is dedicated to the mission of empowering excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: All students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students. Teach Plus PA Regional Website
