With a sense of urgency, the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy advisory committee took the first of many steps this week in continuing the Kansas State Board of Education’s commitment to improving the reading levels of Kansas students. 

(Pictured above: Dr. Laurie Curtis, second from right, manager of KSDE's early literacy and dyslexia program, talks during a small group discussion with fellow members of the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy advisory committee this week in Topeka.)

“It is my hope that this work is a true collaborative effort with a common goal of supporting all educators in implementation of evidence-based practices to elevate literacy learning for all Kansas students,” said Dr. Laurie Curtis, manager of KSDE’s early literacy and dyslexia program and a voting member of the literacy advisory committee. “It is essential that all who work in preparing students and teachers in Kansas work together in these efforts.”  

“This work will be challenging,” Dr. Cynthia Lane, director of the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy, told the group of educators, reading experts and representatives of the state’s education organizations gathered in Topeka on Tuesday. “We have no time to waste.” 

The literacy advisory committee is an outgrowth of SB 438, passed by the 2024 Kansas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Laura Kelly. The “blueprint” has been approved and will be administered by the Kansas Board of Regents with a primary focus on the work of the state’s colleges and universities to prepare students pursuing careers in education to use structured literacy as a model of instruction. 

Curtis said the work of the blueprint is complementary to KSDE’s structured literacy and dyslexia initiatives in place as a result of action taken by the Kansas State Board of Education, including the approval of the requirement for some educators to pass a test or be trained in the science of reading and structured literacy for licensure renewal by 2028. 

According to language in SB 438, 100% of elementary teachers, special education teachers and teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) should have a micro-credential in the science of reading and structured literacy by 2030, “leading to at least 50% of students in each of the grades three through eight achieving level 3 or above and at least 90% of students in each of the grades three through eight achieving level 2 or above on the English language arts state assessment by 2033.” 

The advisory committee will host a literacy summit on July 25 in Wichita and in Pittsburg in June of next year. Committee members also will host community listening sessions in Garden City, Emporia and Kansas City, Kansas, over the next year in addition to the committee’s business meetings. The committee will also provide progress reports to the Kansas House and Senate education committees. 

Advisory committee members will be tasked with identifying and ultimately approving the criteria for the science of reading and structured literacy micro-credential for educators. Before then, however, Lane said input from teachers will be a crucial part of the overall blueprint initiative. 

“We need to listen to them as to what they need,” she said. 

Susanne Martinez, an ESOL instructional coach with Dodge City USD 443 and the 2022 Kansas Teacher of the Year, is a member of the advisory committee. She said her focus is advocating for all students but particularly children with English as a second language and how they will be taught how to read. 

“There are some things that have to look a little bit different for those students and they deserve to be successful just like any other student,” she said. “My role is really just to advocate for them and push forward best practices for all students but keeping in mind the lens of, here are some specific considerations that we need to take for our second language learners and how we can make sure they’re successful in literacy as well.” 

For more information about the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy, click here.