PA 146 & Tier 1 Literacy:
How Leaders Can Prepare, Prioritize & Prosper
Jenelle Williams
Literacy Consultant
DL Task Force Co-Chair
Oakland Schools
Liz Lietz
Literacy Consultant
DL Task Force Member
Macomb ISD
Outcomes
Prepare | Prioritize | Prosper |
Understand the professional learning requirements from PA 146 for the 2026-2027 school year | Consider elements to include in a responsive multi-year plan | Identify resources that will help administrators move beyond compliance, to consider where adolescent literacy lives in continuous improvement |
What do you know about PA 146?
Prepare: Understand Key Components of PA 146
What is the law trying to address?
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PA 146: Implications for Secondary
…the law is NOT focused on diagnosing or teaching learners with dyslexia
…the law DOES seek to improve reading outcomes for ALL K-12 learners
Read by Grade 3 Law has been revised and integrated into PA 146
While referred to as the K-12 Literacy and Dyslexia Law…
What instruction do ALL/SOME/FEW students need?
What systems need to be in place?
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Click on each image to access a digital version of the document
DL Classroom Essential Instructional Practices- Core
DL Classroom Essential Instructional Practices- Beyond The Core
MDE MTSS Practice Profile
DL School-Wide Essential Practices
PA 146
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Key Components of the Law
Team-Based Leadership
Essential Schoolwide Practice 1. The school forms a leadership team composed of instructional leaders with a shared commitment to continuous improvement in disciplinary literacy and ongoing attention to data.
Good News: You don’t need another team!
Tiered Delivery System
Essential Instructional Practices describe effective Tier 1 instruction.
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Every Student. Every Day.
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Key Components of the Law
Reading Curricula/Resources: Section (5)
(5) Applies only to K-5/elementary curricular resources
MDE Clarification: However, regarding grades 6-12, PA 146, Section (22) defines the parameters for Tier 1 curriculum and instruction as, “reading instruction and curriculum materials are evidence-based, with a focus on pupils’ mastery of the foundational reading skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and the development of other reading skills, including, but not limited to, development of oral language, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Pupils must be provided instruction aligned with science of reading methods that research shows improve literacy outcomes and help pupils achieve reading proficiency.” Therefore, according to MDE’s guidance, evidence-based Tier 1 curriculum would be aligned to the state standards at that grade level/subject. At the secondary level, basic foundational skills would be taught during Tier 2 support.
Reading Curricula/Resources: Section (5)
MDE Clarification: PA 146 seeks to ensure children and adolescents develop into skilled readers to successfully read text and understand information across disciplines, PreK-12. Elementary grades (PK-2) develop the foundational reading skills where formal instruction begins and formally tapers off. With the exception of decoding, adolescents in upper elementary grades continue to refine their multisyllabic decoding skills to read complex words across disciplines through secondary grades. Oral language, vocabulary, and reading comprehension are developed pre-K through 12th grade and do not require a specific program in the secondary grades because subject area teachers are responsible for developing those processes in their classes.
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Key Components of the Law
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Big Ideas - Professional Learning Requirements
Characteristics of dyslexia and underlying factors
Secondary consequences of dyslexia
Instructional adjustments for pupils with dyslexia and to address the underlying factors
Evidence-based instructional methods and features of evidence-based interventions that are grounded in the science of reading and principles of structured literacy
Using a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to meet the collective and individual needs of students.
Resources to Support P.A. 146 Professional Learning Requirements 7a-c
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Resources to Support P.A. 146 Professional Learning Requirements 7d-e
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Secondary Literacy Intervention: Readiness Series
Secondary Intensifying Literacy Series
Professional Learning (MDE)
21st Annual MiMTSS Conference November 19 & 20, 2026 Lansing, MI
Selection & Implementation of Instruction, Interventions, & Supports
It’s tempting to focus on interventions at the expense of Tier I.
Do teachers have all of the resources and professional learning necessary to provide effective Tier I instruction to all students?
YOU CAN’T INTERVENE YOUR WAY OUT OF A TIER 1 ISSUE
P.A. 146 Professional Learning Requirement 7f
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(7) By not later than the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year, each school district, intermediate school district, and public school academy shall provide assurance to the department that all literacy consultants, literacy coaches, and other personnel providing reading intervention or reading instruction to grades K to 12 pupils in the school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy received professional learning, as determined by the department, regarding all of the following: (f) Evidence-based instructional methods and features of evidence-based interventions that are grounded in the science of reading and principles of structured literacy that are designed to effectively meet the needs of MOST pupils.
Grounding in Research
Essential Schoolwide/ Organizational Practices
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Key Components of the Law
Comprehensive Screening & Assessment System
A comprehensive assessment system is a coordinated system of multiple assessments and measures each of which is valid and reliable for its specified purpose and for the population with which it will be used.
The system is designed to help educators make informed instructional and programmatic decisions and provides information about the needs and assets of each and every learner from a whole child perspective.
The data acquired through the system are used to systematically evaluate the quality, equity, and efficiency of instruction, interventions and supports and create a responsive system that enhances individual learner outcomes.
Assessment - Screeners: Section (15)
(d) Each pupil who is in any of grades 4 to 12 who, as determined by that pupil’s teacher, educational-support staff, or the pupil’s parent or legal guardian, demonstrates any of the following:
(i) Escape or avoidance behaviors when asked to engage in reading or writing activities.
(ii) Effortful or laborious reading.
(iii) Reading-comprehension difficulties caused by inaccurate or inefficient word reading.
(iv) Significant spelling or encoding difficulties not caused by fine-motor or visual-motor difficulties.
(v) Low performance on school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy approved English language arts standards.
(vi) Low performance on school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy approved standardized assessments.
(vii) Reading deficiency.
Grades K-3 Specific Requirements
Grades 4-12 Specific Requirements
Assessment - Screeners: Section (15)
(15) Screening for Characteristics of Dyslexia Requirements for both K-3 & 4-12
By no later than the beginning of the 2027-28 school year, each pupil described in this subsection is screened for characteristics of dyslexia and difficulties in learning to decode accurately and efficiently using a reliable and valid universal screening assessment.
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Key Components of the Law
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
Sample Flowchart of MTSS Process
*aligned with Science of Reading and principles of structured literacy
*District MTSS framework may require additional rounds of Tier 2 or Tier 3 support
K-12 Literacy & Dyslexia Law (PA 146)
What do you need to know about the law?
IRIP = BOTH
Individual Reading Improvement Plan
and
Individual Reading Intervention Plan
“MDE is calling all reading plans for K-12 IRIPs (Individualized Reading Improvement Plan). If any K-12 student shows the need to receive reading intervention programming, they should have an IRIP on record. 10b(v) highlights what should be included in the IRIP.”
Source: MDE (via MDE Dyslexia Email), January 23, 2026
Grades K-3 Specific Requirements
Provide an IRIP
Grades 4-12 Specific Requirements
Provide an IRIP
IRIPs: Section (10)
(9) Individual Reading Improvement Plan (IRIP) Requirements for both K-3 & 4-12
(b) For any pupil in grades K to 3 who exhibits reading deficiency at any time based on the reading assessment selected and used under subdivision (a) and for pupils required to have a reading intervention plan under this section
Good News: Tier 1 and Intervention
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Continuous Data-Based Decision Making
Pause and Process
Revisit your graphic organizer.
Make notes to reflect your current understanding, correct misconceptions or add questions.
Share your thinking with an elbow partner.
Prioritize: Develop Responsive Multi-year Plans
Literacy Development Doesn’t End in Third Grade
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“When it comes to instruction, disciplinary literacy aims to apprentice students into the specialized literacy practices of each of the disciplines—practices usually only developed by those immersed in the creation of knowledge in the disciplines. Content area reading, by contrast, focuses on improving students’ general reading skills or abilities or in developing study habits that could be used across subject areas. Disciplinary literacy promotes the idea of reading and writing like the experts in a given field do, while content area reading tries to develop a set of useful study techniques (e.g., SQ3R, KWL).”
-DIGITAL SAT SUITE AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE: ELA/LITERACY pp.95-96
Disciplinary Literacy is an Adaptive Change
DECISION-MAKING ABOUT PL REQUIREMENTS
Characteristics of dyslexia and underlying factors
Secondary consequences of dyslexia
Instructional adjustments for pupils with dyslexia and to address the underlying factors
Evidence-based instructional methods and features of evidence-based interventions that are grounded in the science of reading and principles of structured literacy
Using a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to meet the collective and individual needs of students.
Example:
ALL educators: Awareness of requirements of 7a-7e during 2026-2027.
SOME educators: Deeper understanding of 7a-7c during 2026-2027.
FEW educators (those on MTSS team): Deeper understanding of 7d during 2026-2027.
In subsequent years, develop PL plan based on role and need, with the understanding that improving Tier 1 instruction is a 3-5 year endeavor.
powerful learning for children requires powerful learning for educators.
if we want children’s learning to be different
educator learning has to be different, too
teachers
leaders
Dr. Alison Fox Resnick
Pause and Process
Reflect on which educators might need which elements of professional learning.
Share your thinking with an elbow partner.
Prosper: Leverage Strengths and Quality Resources
There is no learning of content without language. Secondary educators are experts in the language of their discipline but need help making their knowledge visible.
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Intentional vocabulary instruction is everyone’s job. We need to support educators in moving away from assigning and toward instruction.
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You don’t need educators to become morphology experts. You just need to help them leverage routines and be willing to learn alongside their students.
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You don’t need most educators to teach phonics. You DO need to support them in making disciplinary reading practices visible.
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Additional Resources
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Additional Resources
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Pause and Process
Which resources do you want give another look when you plan for next year?
Share your thinking with an elbow partner.
Save the Date!
Developing a Disciplinary Literacy Professional Learning Plan (for Leaders)
December 8, 2026 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Host site: Calhoun ISD, 17111 G-Drive N, Marshall, MI 49068.
More information on satellite locations and registration coming soon!
Thank you! Please be in touch.
Jenelle Williams
Literacy Consultant
DL Task Force Co-Chair
Oakland Schools