The Minnesota READ Act and Your Child's IEP: What Parents Need to Know

If your child has an IEP and is struggling to read, the Minnesota READ Act changes what you can demand from your school district. The law — which took full effect for the 2024-2025 school year — requires Minnesota public schools to use evidence-based literacy instruction aligned with the science of reading. For children with disabilities, this isn't just a general education policy shift. It directly affects what goes into an IEP, what interventions the district must provide, and how you can push back when those interventions aren't working.

Most parents haven't heard this spelled out clearly. Here's what you need to know.

What the Minnesota READ Act Requires

The READ Act overhauled how Minnesota schools approach early literacy instruction. Its core requirements include:

• Universal literacy screening for all students in kindergarten through third grade, using a state-approved screening tool administered three times per year
• Individualized literacy plans for students who score below grade-level benchmarks
• Explicit, evidence-based reading instruction aligned with structured literacy principles — phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension taught in a systematic, cumulative sequence
• Teacher training in science of reading methodologies

For general education students, this creates a significant shift away from approaches like balanced literacy or whole-language instruction, which lack the research base of structured literacy. For students with IEPs, the impact is more direct: the instructional methods used to teach reading must now align with this same evidence base.

How the READ Act Affects IEP Reading Goals

If your child has an IEP with reading goals, those goals and the instruction used to address them should now reflect science of reading principles. That means goals targeting phonological awareness, decoding skills, phonics fluency, and reading accuracy — not just comprehension-level goals that bypass the foundational skills causing the problem.

There are two specific things to look for in your child's current IEP:

Are the reading goals measurable and grounded in specific skill deficits? A goal that says "the student will improve reading comprehension" is not aligned with what the READ Act expects. A goal that says "the student will decode multisyllabic words using known phonics patterns with 80% accuracy" is more specific and directly tied to how structured literacy instruction works.

What intervention is the district actually using? The IEP should name the specialized reading program or approach being used with your child. If the district is using a program that relies on context clues, leveled readers, and sight-word memorization as its primary approach, that program does not align with the science of reading and does not meet the READ Act's intent for students with IEPs.

If the IEP doesn't address this, you can raise it at the annual review by asking: "What evidence-based reading program is being used to address my child's reading goals, and how does it align with Minnesota's READ Act requirements?"

The District's Literacy Plan and What You Can Request

Every Minnesota school district is required to develop and publish a literacy plan describing how it will implement READ Act requirements. You can request your district's literacy plan in writing. It should describe the screeners being used, the instructional approaches, how struggling readers are identified, and how students with disabilities are served.

If your child received a literacy screening and scored below benchmark, the district is required to develop an individualized literacy plan. If your child already has an IEP, the literacy intervention should be integrated into — or at minimum consistent with — the IEP's reading goals and services.

Parents of children with IEPs can ask at an IEP meeting:

• Has my child been screened under the READ Act?
• If they scored below benchmark, where is their individualized literacy plan?
• How does their IEP reading instruction align with that plan?
• What structured literacy program is the district using and is the special education teacher trained in it?

What This Means for Children With Dyslexia and Related Disabilities

The READ Act is particularly significant for children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and other language-based learning disabilities. Minnesota defines Specific Learning Disability (which encompasses dyslexia) under Minn. R. 3525.1341. Eligibility is based either on a severe discrepancy between cognitive ability and achievement, or on inadequate rate of progress in response to interventions.

The READ Act strengthens the IEP case for children with dyslexia in two ways. First, universal screening catches reading difficulties earlier, meaning children who previously might have been told to "wait and see" should now be identified and receiving intervention sooner. Second, the emphasis on phonics-based, systematic instruction is precisely the methodology that research shows is most effective for children with dyslexia — and which parents have historically had to fight to get included in IEPs.

If your child's IEP still relies on accommodations alone (extended time, audiobooks) without also addressing the underlying phonological processing deficits through direct instruction, the READ Act gives you additional grounds to argue for a more intensive reading program as a specially designed instruction component.

The Minnesota IEP & 504 Blueprint includes guidance on what questions to ask at IEP meetings about reading instruction and how to document concerns if the district's program does not align with Minnesota's current legal requirements.

When to Push Back

If you've raised READ Act concerns and the district isn't responsive, your options include:

• Requesting a revised IEP meeting specifically to address reading goals and methodology
• Requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation if you believe the school's reading assessment missed the scope of your child's learning disability
• Filing a state complaint with the Minnesota Department of Education if the district is not implementing required literacy screenings or individualized plans as required by law
• Citing the READ Act directly in any Prior Written Notice objection if the district proposes to reduce or eliminate reading services

The READ Act created new, enforceable obligations for Minnesota school districts. Parents whose children have reading-related disabilities now have a more explicit legal hook to demand that IEP reading instruction reflects what the research actually supports.

The Bottom Line

The Minnesota READ Act isn't just an education reform — it's a parent advocacy tool. If your child struggles to read and has an IEP, the law now requires that the instruction used to address those goals be grounded in the science of reading. Districts that haven't updated their programs, trained their staff, or aligned their IEP goals with structured literacy principles are not meeting their obligations.

You don't need to accept "we're using what works for our district" as an answer. Ask what the program is, whether it's research-based, and how it aligns with the READ Act. Then put the concerns in writing. That's where advocacy starts.

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