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NCEL News
Resources on Teaching Literacy to Multilingual Learners
August 2026
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Upcoming NCEL Webinar
September 22, 2026, 4pm ET | 1pm PT
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Join the National Committee for Effective Literacy, the Center for Applied Linguistics, and the Center on English Language Proficiency at the Center for Equity for English Learners, Loyola Marymount University for a webinar addressing the enduring challenge of English literacy development for multilingual learners.
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The webinar includes recent research on literacy legislation across all 50 states, plus the presentation of a new framework, “Comprehensive K-3 Literacy Policy for Multilingual Learners: Research and Practice” The webinar will also provide examples from practitioners who connect the research on and for multilingual learners to reading reform efforts.
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Featuring: Ester de Jong, Jody Slavick, Silvia Noguerón-Liu, Keira Ballantyne, Diana Mendoza, and Erika Mendez
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CAL Research Brief on SOR
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The September 22 webinar will feature CAL’s research brief, Legislating Literacy Instruction: Where Are Multilingual Learners?, which examined literacy legislation across all 50 states. The analysis found that although most states have enacted literacy legislation, multilingual learners are too often absent or only minimally addressed in state policy, highlighting important opportunities to strengthen literacy legislation and implementation.
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SOR Legislation in Congress
NCEL has been monitoring House and Senate bills that would amend the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grants in ESSA Title II to align grant activities with the science of reading. One concern in both bills is the banning of “three cueing” which is defined as using “... meaning drawn from context, pictures, or syntax as the primary basis for teaching word recognition” or approaches that “... teach visual memory as the primary basis for word recognition.”
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Like some of the SOR state bills that include similar language, the Senate bill emphasizes that what it does not support is using those techniques primarily. Since context-based approaches are not excluded altogether, implementation of this bill should allow teachers to continue to use—as the Senate bill itself states—“effective language instruction to support literacy and oral language development, particularly for English learners and children with disabilities.” The Senate version also states that LEAs may use grant funds for “supporting evidence-based bilingual literacy instruction, including biliteracy development aligned with the science of reading.”
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Both bills have passed out of committee and await consideration by their respective chambers. Because the Senate bill would restructure the grants considerably, lawmakers would need to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions if either bill passes.
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The National Committee for Effective Literacy uplifts research, policies, and practices to ensure that English learners/emergent bilinguals leave school as proficient readers and writers in English — and preferably more languages — and who thrive and succeed in school and their communities.
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Copyright ©2026 National Committee for Effective Literacy, all rights reserved.
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