Dear County and District Superintendents, and Charter School Administrators:

Update to Screening for Risk of Reading Difficulties Requirements and Implementation Funding

The purpose of this letter is to notify you about changes to California Education Code (EC) Section 53008, subsection (e), pertaining to the administration of risk of reading difficulties screening instruments, and the addition of EC Section 53009.5, which provides funding to support the screening requirements (see Assembly Bill 126 sections 114 and 119 [2026], https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB126).

These amendments add provisions related to the administration of screening instruments and require the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop and disseminate guidance to local educational agencies (LEAs) regarding the administration of screening instruments. AB 126 also appropriates funding to support LEAs in implementing the requirements of EC Section 53008.

The updated language of EC Section 53008(e) is provided below:

(e) (1) Commencing no later than the 2025–26 school year, and annually thereafter, a local educational agency serving pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 or 2 shall assess each pupil in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for risk of reading difficulties using the screening instrument or instruments adopted by the governing board or body of the local educational agency pursuant to subdivision (d), unless the pupil’s parent or guardian opts out of the screening in writing.Employees administering screening instruments shall be appropriately trained to administer the instrument.

(2) In determining when during the school year to administer each screening instrument, a local educational agency shall consider whether pupils have received sufficient instruction in foundational reading skills to support a valid assessment. For the purposes of identifying pupils at risk of reading difficulties pursuant to paragraph (1), a local educational agency shall not administer a screening instrument to a kindergarten pupil before the 91st school day of the school year. This paragraph does not prohibit local educational agencies from administering more than one pupil screening or diagnostic evaluation annually in addition to those administered for the purposes of identifying pupils at risk of reading difficulties pursuant to paragraph (1), as appropriate.

(3) In order to ensure the accuracy and precision of screening, and in accordance with the administration instructions for each screening instrument adopted pursuant to subdivision (c), local educational agencies are strongly recommended to administer screening instruments on a one-on-one or small group basis.

(4) On or before January 31, 2027, the department shall develop and disseminate guidance to local educational agencies regarding the implementation of paragraph (2), including factors that may be considered in determining whether a pupil has received sufficient instruction in foundational reading skills to support a valid assessment. The guidance shall be informed by diverse research regarding screening administration and factors affecting the predictive validity of reading difficulties risk screening, as well as by the first year of implementation of reading difficulties risk screening pursuant to this section with data from all of the screening instruments approved by the expert panel described in subdivision (c).

The appropriation language of newly added EC Section 53009.5 is provided below:

(a) For the 2026–27 fiscal year, the sum of forty million dollars ($40,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to local educational agencies that administer literacy screenings to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for risk of reading difficulties to support implementation of the requirements of EC Section 53008, in the manner specified in this section.

The CDE has updated the Reading Difficulties Risk Screener FAQs (at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cl/screenerfaqs.asp) to reflect the amendments to EC Section 53008(e). Additional information regarding the funding appropriated through EC Section 53009.5 will be shared as it becomes available.

Thank you for your continued efforts to implement the California Reading Difficulties Risk Screener requirements.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction