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Montana committee hears bill to make K-3 reading instruction 'evidence based'
Summary
Representative Rexton sponsored House Bill 262 to declare state policy that early literacy instruction be evidence based and include science-of-reading components; proponents urged funding for teacher professional development and the Board of Public Education to set minimum standards.
Representative Nicole Rexton, sponsor of House Bill 262, told the House Education Committee the bill is a policy statement that would require Montana schools’ early literacy instruction to be evidence based and include components supported by scientific research. “House Bill 262 is a policy statement,” Rexton said, and she told members the bill would underscore the importance of effective reading instruction in grades K–3. She cited National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results she said show a long-term decline in Montana reading scores from 1998 through 2024.
The bill text, as described by Rexton during the hearing, requires that early literacy instruction be direct, systematic, explicit and responsive, follow a scope-and-sequence toward mastery and include…
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