National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL) Virtual Summit Presentation: Legislating Literacy: Where are Multilingual Learners?

Event: National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL) Virtual Summit
Location: Zoom
Date & Time: January 21, 2026
Session Format: Presentation
Presenter(s): Sarah Howard, Diep Nguyen, Keira Ballantyne

Description:
With most states mandating Science of Reading instruction in legislation, previous investigations have looked at the different requirements of legislative mandates. However, there has not been a thorough review of the consideration of Multilingual Learners in this policy. We explore the various ways in which Multilingual Learners are present in Science of Reading legislation via a state-by-state comparative analysis and present our summarized findings for ongoing conversations toward purposeful consideration of linguistic and cultural diversity within literacy instruction.