This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s 2026 Capitol Reporting Workshop for Minnesota youth, with financial support from the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.
For many, reading is a foundational skill taken for granted. But for Heather Edelson, a Hennepin County commissioner and former Minnesota state representative, the written word was once a source of deep anxiety. Growing up with dyslexia, Edelson didn’t find her footing in the classroom until the late middle school years.
"I didn’t really read well until probably late middle school," Edelson recalled. "It was really challenging."
Edelson’s personal struggle is emblematic of a broader, systemic crisis in Minnesota. For over a decade, the state has grappled with declining literacy proficiency among its youngest learners. As policymakers search for a solution, the "READ Act" has emerged as the centerpiece of a legislative tug-of-war—a debate that pits evidence-based pedagogy against traditional, and sometimes controversial, educational mandates.
The Literacy Landscape: A Decade of Decline
The statistics tell a sobering story. According to data from Compass Education, third-grade literacy proficiency rates in Minnesota have seen a steady, concerning downward trajectory. In 2013, nearly 56% of third graders were meeting grade-level standards. By the present era, that number has plummeted to approximately 46%.
This decline triggered an urgent response from the Minnesota Legislature. When Edelson was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018, she made literacy a primary focus of her tenure. She immediately took issue with the existing state mandate, known as "Read Well by Third Grade." Edelson argued that the policy was too narrow, focusing exclusively on a single grade-level milestone rather than providing the comprehensive, longitudinal support required to build a sustainable literacy foundation for students throughout their K-12 journey.
A Legislative Chronology: From Concept to Law
The pathway to reform accelerated significantly following the 2022 midterm elections, which granted the DFL (Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) full control of state government. Edelson, alongside Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, began crafting what would become the READ Act.
The drafting process was not merely a matter of administrative policy; it was deeply informed by the realities of the classroom. As the bill took shape, teachers began speaking out about the quality of the materials they were required to use. Concerns were raised regarding the cultural competence of existing curricula, with educators noting that depictions of African American and Native American children were frequently inaccurate or relied on harmful stereotypes.
In 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed the initial version of the READ Act into law, backed by a $70 million appropriation to help schools transition to evidence-based instruction and provide intensive teacher training.
However, the work did not end there. Recognizing that implementation is often where policy succeeds or fails, Edelson and Maye Quade solicited direct feedback from the educators on the front lines. This collaboration led to the 2024 passage of an updated version, colloquially known as "READ Act 2.0." This iteration refined the initial framework, primarily by funneling additional resources into teacher professional development and solidifying the state’s commitment to "structured literacy"—a method grounded in the science of how the brain learns to read.
The Science of Success: Evidence-Based Pedagogy
The shift mandated by the READ Act represents a departure from older, more subjective methods of teaching. Modern literacy experts advocate for "structured literacy," which places a heavy emphasis on phonics—the systematic mapping of sounds to letters.
Julie Cronin, a second-grade teacher in the Robbinsdale school district, has seen the transition firsthand. She points to programs like "Bridge to Read" and "LETRS" as game-changers. These tools equip teachers with a granular approach to word study, teaching students how to deconstruct words, manipulate letter patterns, and sound out complex, unfamiliar terms.
"They get it. They get the rules," Cronin said, noting that students who previously struggled with rote memorization are now gaining the tools to decode language independently.
State Senator Steve Cwodzinski, a DFLer from Eden Prairie and chair of the Senate Education Policy Committee, echoes this optimism. After conducting numerous site visits to Minnesota elementary schools, he says the evidence is visible in the classroom.
"When we visit grade schools and you see the kids reading words that I didn’t know until I was in college, it’s kind of amazing," Cwodzinski said. "So it’s working."
The Counter-Argument: The Push for Retention
Despite the momentum behind the READ Act, a faction of Republican lawmakers believes the current legislative approach is insufficient. Sens. Michael Holmstrom, Jordan Rasmusson, and Julia Coleman have introduced the "READ Act Interventions bill," a proposal that introduces a more aggressive, punitive mechanism for addressing low literacy.
The core of the GOP proposal is a mandate requiring public schools to create individualized learning plans for students who fall behind. Crucially, the bill would require schools to retain students—hold them back a grade—if it is deemed to be in the student’s "best interest."
Senator Holmstrom argues that the current system is failing students by pushing them through the grades regardless of their mastery of foundational skills. He contends that as the academic standards increase with each grade level, students who lack fundamental reading abilities will inevitably fall further behind.
"They’re not going to keep up if we let them," Holmstrom said, noting that many teachers have expressed frustration that students are being promoted despite a clear lack of readiness.
Implications and Partisan Divides
The proposal for grade retention has ignited a fierce debate, drawing a sharp line between those who view retention as an academic "reset" and those who view it as a social and emotional liability.
Educators, including Mackenzie Mohen-VonAhnen of Centennial Elementary in Richfield, argue that the research on grade retention is overwhelmingly negative. "That would be harmful for students, you know, like, mentally and socially," Mohen-VonAhnen explained. She suggests that resources should be directed toward intervention and support rather than the long-term stigma of being held back.
Edelson, who was herself held back in the third grade, remains a staunch opponent of the practice. She argues that her own experience was a primary motivation for drafting the original READ Act without retention mandates. For her, the goal of the legislation is to fix the instruction, not to penalize the student.
"It’s about making sure that the teaching is effective so that no child has to face the feeling of being left behind," Edelson said.
As the Minnesota Legislature remains closely divided, the disagreement over the READ Act reflects broader ideological tensions at the Capitol. While supporters of the GOP proposal argue that accountability is the missing piece of the puzzle, the political reality is that the bill faces a steep uphill climb. For now, the state’s literacy strategy remains focused on the "science of reading," betting that better training and structured phonics will turn the tide without the need for controversial retention policies.
Ultimately, the future of Minnesota’s students rests on this experiment. With millions of dollars invested and thousands of teachers undergoing retraining, the pressure to see improvement in the next cycle of test scores is immense. Whether the READ Act will prove to be the long-term solution for Minnesota’s literacy crisis or merely another chapter in a long history of educational policy shifts remains to be seen. But for educators like Julie Cronin and students who are finally learning to decode the world around them, the shift toward evidence-based instruction is, at the very least, a welcome start.
