Arkansas · AR
Arkansas literacy law: Right to Read Act and the R.I.S.E. initiative
Arkansas's Right to Read Act and R.I.S.E. initiative require Science of Reading proficiency for K-6 teachers, K-3 universal screening, and structured-literacy intervention. District-leader summary.
At-a-glance reference
- Law name
- The Right to Read Act (2017) + Reading Initiative for Student Excellence (R.I.S.E.)
- Year passed
- 2017
- Applies to
- K-6 (teacher training); K-3 (screening)
- Screening
- Required
Key requirements
What the law requires of districts.
- The Right to Read Act (2017) requires K-6 teachers to demonstrate proficiency in scientific reading instruction (the Science of Reading) as a condition of licensure renewal
- R.I.S.E. Arkansas (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence) is the state's implementation vehicle for the Right to Read Act, providing coaching, training, and district support
- LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) is the predominant proficiency-training pathway adopted across Arkansas districts
- Universal K-3 reading screening is required to identify students at risk of dyslexia or reading difficulty
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 structured-literacy intervention must be provided for students identified through screening as below benchmark
- Districts submit annual literacy plans to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) describing screening, intervention, and instructional materials
- DESE maintains lists of approved K-3 instructional materials aligned to the state's structured-literacy framework
Arkansas Department of Education / Division of Elementary and Secondary Education maintains lists of approved K-3 reading materials aligned to the state's structured-literacy framework.
A note on Arkansas’s literacy framework
Arkansas’s literacy framework is built around two interlocking initiatives rather than a single signature bill. District leaders should understand both:
- The Right to Read Act (2017) — the foundational statute requiring K-6 teachers to demonstrate proficiency in scientific reading instruction (the Science of Reading) as a condition of licensure renewal. The act also catalyzed universal K-3 screening and the move toward structured-literacy intervention.
- R.I.S.E. Arkansas (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence) — the state’s implementation vehicle. R.I.S.E. provides teacher training, leadership coaching, district planning support, and partnership work with educational cooperatives. Functionally, R.I.S.E. is how the Right to Read Act is operationalized in classrooms.
- DESE oversight — the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (within the Arkansas Department of Education) maintains approved-materials lists, screening guidance, and the annual district literacy plan process.
The training pathway most commonly adopted in Arkansas districts is LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), though other state-approved options exist. The Right to Read Act does not mandate a specific vendor.
What this means for district adoption decisions
When evaluating literacy products for Arkansas use, district curriculum offices typically check:
- Structured-literacy methodology — does instruction use explicit, systematic, cumulative phonics rather than three-cueing or balanced-literacy strategies? This is the practical bar set by R.I.S.E. coaching and DESE approval.
- DESE approved-materials list inclusion (for cores) — is the product on the state list, or aligned in a way that survives a district review?
- Compatibility with the district’s LETRS-trained teachers — products that mirror LETRS terminology (phoneme-grapheme mapping, syllable types, morphology routines) reduce friction for teachers who have completed cohorts.
- Universal screening compatibility — does the product produce data that integrates with the screener the district uses for K-3 risk identification?
- ESSA evidence tier — for federally-funded supplemental purchases, what tier of evidence does the product carry?
For supplemental and intervention purchases, ESSA evidence tier is the key federal-funding gate. Storytime’s ESSA Tier 4 evidence rationale supports federal-fund procurement of supplemental practice tools.
Common implementation challenges
Three issues come up repeatedly as Arkansas districts implement the framework:
1. Pacing decodable practice to the lesson, not just the level. Arkansas teachers completing LETRS work in terms of specific phoneme-grapheme correspondences and syllable types. Most decodable libraries are level-tagged (Decodable Level B, Level 2) but not lesson-tagged. Teachers spend significant time hunting for books that match the specific phonics element their student is on — which is the gap Storytime’s decodable library and on-demand generation addresses.
2. ORF data for tiered intervention decisions. Right to Read Act screening identifies students at risk, but tier placement and movement require ongoing progress monitoring. Oral reading fluency is the standard measure, and capturing it at scale in a classroom is operationally hard. Storytime’s ORF assessment lets every student record reading passages weekly with automatic WCPM and prosody scoring.
3. Differentiation without leaving the published scope. A district’s adopted core anchors every classroom to a published scope and sequence. But student variation within a classroom is large, and LETRS-trained teachers are explicitly looking for evidence of student-specific need. Storytime’s customizable-phonics-curriculum layer gives teachers per-student journey overrides without breaking the class baseline.
How Storytime supports Arkansas districts
ESSA Tier 4 evidence rationale + structured-literacy alignment.
Storytime sits on top of the structured-literacy curricula Arkansas districts adopt (UFLI Foundations, Wilson Fundations, Amplify CKLA, IMSE Orton-Gillingham, and 3 others) and provides the digital practice layer: decodable library + on-demand generation, adaptive journeys, ORF assessment with WCPM scoring, and Skill Tree analytics across the six SoR pillars. Our published ESSA Tier 4 evidence rationale documents the logic model + research base.
Storytime does not replace your phonics curriculum — it extends its reach to every student on the exact lesson they're on, with universal screening and progress monitoring data designed for AR's MTSS framework.
FAQ
Common questions about Arkansas's literacy law.
- What does the Right to Read Act actually require?
- Arkansas's Right to Read Act, passed in 2017, requires K-6 teachers and elementary-administrator candidates to demonstrate proficiency in scientific reading instruction — the body of evidence commonly referred to as the Science of Reading. Proficiency is a condition of licensure renewal, and the state provides multiple pathways to meet it. The act also pushed the state toward universal K-3 screening and structured-literacy intervention for students identified as at-risk.
- What is R.I.S.E. Arkansas?
- R.I.S.E. (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence) is the state-level implementation effort that operationalizes the Right to Read Act. It provides teacher training, instructional-leadership coaching, district planning support, and resource libraries. R.I.S.E. is housed within the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and works in partnership with cooperatives and districts statewide.
- How do teachers demonstrate Science of Reading proficiency?
- Arkansas offers several state-approved pathways, but LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) has been the dominant in-service option adopted across districts. New teachers can satisfy the requirement through approved preparation programs, and in-service teachers typically complete a multi-year LETRS cohort or an equivalent approved pathway. Check current DESE guidance for the most up-to-date list of approved options.
- What screening is required under Arkansas law?
- Arkansas requires universal K-3 reading screening to identify students at risk of reading difficulty, including characteristics of dyslexia. Screening must use validated instruments and is typically administered multiple times per year. Students flagged below benchmark must receive structured-literacy intervention through the district's tiered support system.
- Which curricula are approved in Arkansas?
- DESE maintains lists of approved K-3 reading materials that align with the state's structured-literacy framework. The lists are revised periodically, so districts should consult the current DESE materials list and accompanying guidance before adopting a new core, intervention, or supplemental program. We do not republish the list here because it changes.
- Does Arkansas ban three-cueing?
- Arkansas does not have a statutory ban on three-cueing comparable to the explicit prohibitions some other states have adopted. In practice, however, the state's structured-literacy framework, approved-materials lists, LETRS-aligned training, and screening requirements push districts toward decoding-first instruction and away from three-cueing as a primary word-recognition strategy. The effect is functional rather than statutory.
- Where does Storytime fit in an Arkansas-compliant literacy stack?
- Storytime is the digital practice and assessment layer on top of an Arkansas-approved core. Decodable books are cross-tagged to common K-3 scope-and-sequences (UFLI Foundations, Amplify CKLA, Wilson, IMSE), oral reading fluency is captured weekly with WCPM and prosody scoring to support tiered intervention decisions, and the per-student journey layer lets teachers differentiate without leaving the district's published scope. Our ESSA Tier 4 evidence rationale supports federal-fund procurement of supplemental practice tools.
Disclaimer: This page summarizes publicly-available information about Arkansas's literacy law and is provided for educational reference. It is not legal advice. State requirements evolve — verify current rules with the Arkansas Department of Education and your district legal counsel before making compliance decisions. Last reviewed: May 2026.