RCW 28A.230.025: Comprehensive system of instruction and services in reading and early literacy—Curriculum components.

(1) School districts are responsible for providing a comprehensive system of instruction and services in reading and early literacy to kindergarten through grade four students that is based on the degree of student need for additional support. Reading and early literacy systems provided by school districts must include:

(a) Annual use of screening assessments and other tools to identify at-risk readers in kindergarten through grade four, such as the Washington kindergarten inventory of developing skills, the Washington state early learning and development guidelines for birth through grade three, the second grade reading assessment under RCW 28A.300.310, and locally used assessments and other tools; and

(b) Research-based family involvement and engagement strategies, including strategies to help families and guardians assist in improving students' reading and early literacy skills at home.

(2)(a) Beginning September 1, 2027, when a school district updates or purchases a curriculum related to early literacy, reading literacy, or writing literacy for use with any students in kindergarten through grade four, the new or updated curriculum must include at least the following essential components: (i) Language comprehension, including semantics, syntax, and knowledge building; (ii) reading and writing fluency; (iii) orthographic knowledge, including phonics and spelling; (iv) phonological awareness, including phonemic awareness; (v) vocabulary; and (vi) oral language development and proficiency.

(b) The new or updated curriculum must also be:

(i) Diagnostic of and responsive to individual student needs, including by being multisensory, multimodal, high quality, and culturally relevant;

(ii) Evidence-aligned to established interdisciplinary literacy research and evidence-informed in its instructional design;

(iii) Aligned with the state learning standard in English language arts, as the standard is adopted and periodically revised under RCW 28A.655.070; and

(iv) Consistent with the teacher endorsement standards for literacy-related competencies adopted by the Washington professional educator standards board under RCW 28A.410.048.

(3) To the extent possible without incurring undue financial or operational burden, school districts must implement curriculum purchased or updated under subsection (2) of this section consistent with the curriculum developer's guidance and school district policies, with the expectation of achieving full fidelity and sustainability over time.