January, 2025

Update: READ Act Professional Development Registration

Phase 1 Educators: The registration request process will reopen for Phase 1 educators beginning January 13, 2025. Once the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) receives your registration request information, MDE will validate and send registrations to the vendor. Validation will take up to four weeks due to additional information required on the registration request form. Additional information is required to ensure all Phase 1 educators receive priority in order to meet statutory training deadline of July 1, 2026.

Phase 1 educators have until July 1, 2026, to complete training (should additional time be needed for those educators taking LETRS, extensions will be granted).

For Phase 1 educators only, on January 13, 2025, a registration form will be posted on the READ Act Professional Development webpage that will request the following information:

• Professional development vendor choice
• Whether or not you are adding to existing cohort or requesting a new cohort
• Preferred start date, however preferred start dates can not be guaranteed
• Role of the educator, including license number and assignment code. As a reminder, the following educators are identified in the READ Act for Phase 1:
  • PreK classroom teachers–PreK classroom teachers include voluntary Pre-Kindergarten/School Readiness Plus, Early Childhood Special Education (Part B/619) responsible for early literacy/reading instruction and School Readiness
  • K–3 classroom teachers
  • K–12 teachers licensed to teach English to multilingual learners
  • K–12 reading intervention teachers
  • K–12 special education teachers responsible for reading instruction
  • PreK–5 curriculum directors
  • Employees who select literacy instructional materials for grades PreK–5
  • 4th and 5th grade (6th grade depending on the structure of your elementary school) classroom teachers may be included in Phase 1, if district/charter literacy data indicates the need for foundational reading skill instruction in these grades

Note: We ask that Phase 2 educators not register for Phase 1 training.

Phase 2 Educators: READ Act 2.0 statute extended the deadline for Phase 2 educators to complete the required professional development to July 1, 2027. This will allow time for districts to implement English language arts (ELA) standards and ease the professional development scheduling calendar for SY25-26. The registration request process for Phase 2 educators will begin January 2026. Phase 2 training options will be provided by October 2025 to support districts’ and charter schools’ scheduling and budgeting calendars.

As a reminder, the following educators are identified in the READ Act for Phase 2:

• Grades 4–12 classroom teachers responsible for reading instruction
• Teachers who provide reading instruction to students in a state-approved alternative program
• Grades 6–12 curriculum directors
• Employees who select literacy instructional materials for Grades 6–12

Any educator from Phase 2 who has already participated in Phase 1 professional development has met the requirement and would not qualify for a second round of training.

Paraprofessional/Instructional Support Staff: Professional development for instructional support staff will be offered through the Regional Literacy Network. It will consist of 8 hours (four 2-hour modules) of professional learning.

Districts will be selected to pilot the Paraprofessional Training March 1-June 30, 2025. Statewide registration will begin July 1, 2025, with cohorts starting in August 2025. The completion deadline for paraprofessionals is July 1, 2026.

Local Certified Facilitator Community
of Practice (LCF-CoP): Support through
Mentoring and Coaching

The Regional Literacy Network provides support for READ Act professional development facilitators delivering training in either Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) or Online Language and Literacy Academy (OL&LA) for their individual districts. Ensuring that each Local Certified Facilitator (LCF) delivers training with fidelity and adheres to adult learning principles is essential for achieving the goals of the READ Act. The greater the capacity of each LCF, the more effectively participants can learn and apply the knowledge gained, leading to improved outcomes for students. A district-level Certified Trained Facilitator (referred to as Local Certified Facilitators, or LCFs) of any approved READ Act professional development course is defined as: a person employed by a district or regional literacy network who has completed professional development approved by MDE in structured literacy, completed the vendor’s certification prerequisites and facilitator training requirements, completed the vendor’s annual recertification requirements, remains in good standing with the sponsoring agency and vendor, uses the vendor’s training materials with fidelity, and participates in mentoring or coaching provided by the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) and MDE on facilitating literacy training. (Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.119, subdivision 2a Certified trained facilitator). In addition to shared learning, collaboration, and consultation through statewide LCF-CoP, Regional Literacy Network Literacy leads and coaches will engage in mentoring and coaching LCFs through at least one cycle of reflection and goal setting, observation and coaching conversations. The first cycle of mentoring and coaching will take place January-June 2025. Please share this information with your district LCFs; additional details will be provided during the January LCF-CoP. Reach out to your Regional Literacy Network Lead for more information on the next Local Certified Facilitator Community of Practice.

Opportunity for District Literacy Leads to Participate in READ Act Evaluation

We are excited to share an upcoming opportunity for your district literacy leads to contribute to the evaluation of evidence-based literacy practices as they relate to the Minnesota READ Act implementation, through focus groups and surveys. This initiative offers district literacy leads the chance to provide valuable feedback on their experiences, challenges and successes with evidence-based literacy practices under the READ Act. Insights gathered will help shape future statewide efforts and support ongoing progress in literacy instruction and implementation.

The 75-minute focus groups will be held virtually via Zoom throughout January and February 2025. We are seeking input from districts involved in CAREIALL, OL&LA, and/or LETRS professional learning, as well as those engaged in curriculum adoption processes and local literacy plans.

The evaluation is being conducted by the CAREI evaluation team at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with MDE.

We encourage you to share this opportunity with your district literacy leads colleagues. If you or anyone you know has questions, please reach out to Josh Royes, Researcher at royesj@umn.edu, or Kim Gulbrandson, Associate Director of Effective Practices, at kgulbra@umn.edu.

Learning to Read: Engagement of Families and Community

Working with parents is key to helping kids learn to read. Reading Rockets is a national literacy initiative that provides parents and teachers with instructional support. It has a special Literacy at Home section and a Reading 101: A Guide for Parents section that helps parents understand how to support their child's reading journey.

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