Louisiana · LA
Louisiana literacy law: Act 108 dyslexia screening and structured literacy
Louisiana's Act 108 (2021) and Act 422 (2022) mandate K-3 dyslexia screening, structured-literacy training, and K-5 core selection from the LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list.
At-a-glance reference
- Law name
- Act 108 (2021) + Act 422 (2022)
- Year passed
- 2021
- Applies to
- K-3 (screening + intervention); K-6 (teacher training)
- Screening
- Required
Key requirements
What the law requires of districts.
- Act 108 of 2021 requires universal K-3 dyslexia and reading-risk screening for every student
- Act 422 of 2022 expanded mandatory structured-literacy teacher training for K-6 educators (LETRS-aligned coursework)
- Districts must select K-5 core ELA materials from the LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention required for any student screened as at-risk for reading difficulty or dyslexia
- Parent notification of screening results required when a student is identified at-risk
- Annual district literacy plans submitted to the Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Department of Education publishes a Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list of state-approved materials. Districts must select from this list for K-5 core ELA.
A note on Louisiana’s literacy framework
Louisiana’s structured-literacy framework rests on two coordinated statutes plus the Louisiana Department of Education’s curriculum-review process. The core elements district leaders need to understand:
- Act 108 (2021) — establishes universal K-3 screening for dyslexia and reading risk. Every student in kindergarten through third grade must be screened annually; parents must be notified of results; identified students must receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention.
- Act 422 (2022) — expands mandatory structured-literacy professional development for K-6 teachers and instructional coaches. The training is LETRS-aligned and grounded in the Science of Reading.
- LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list — districts must select their K-5 core ELA program from this state-reviewed list of structured-literacy materials.
- Annual district literacy plans — submitted to the Louisiana Department of Education, describing how each district implements screening, intervention, and core-curriculum requirements.
Louisiana does not currently include an explicit statutory ban on three-cueing as a word-recognition strategy. Structured-literacy alignment is enforced indirectly through the approved-curriculum list and the LETRS-aligned teacher training requirement.
What this means for district adoption decisions
When evaluating literacy products for Louisiana use, district curriculum offices typically check:
- LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list inclusion (for cores) — is the K-5 core ELA program on the current state-reviewed list?
- Structured-literacy methodology — does instruction use explicit, systematic, cumulative phonics consistent with the LETRS-aligned training Louisiana teachers receive?
- Act 108 screening compatibility — does the product produce data that complements the state’s universal K-3 dyslexia and reading-risk screening?
- Tier 2 / Tier 3 intervention fit — for students identified at-risk by Act 108, does the product support the small-group or individualized intervention the law requires?
- Progress monitoring — can teachers track student response to intervention over time, in a form that supports the district’s annual literacy plan reporting to LDOE?
For supplemental and intervention purchases, district teams generally evaluate the product’s alignment to structured-literacy principles and to the specific scope and sequence of whichever Tier 1 core the district has adopted.
Common implementation challenges
Three issues come up repeatedly as Louisiana districts implement Act 108 and Act 422:
1. Operationalizing universal K-3 screening at scale. Act 108 requires every K-3 student to be screened, results reported to parents, and at-risk students moved into Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention. Scheduling the screening, communicating results, and matching identified students to intervention is operationally demanding — especially in larger districts. Storytime’s ORF assessment and progress-monitoring tools let teachers capture reading data at scale without losing instructional time.
2. Matching intervention to the Tier 1 core scope and sequence. When a student is identified at-risk, the intervention needs to reinforce — not contradict — the phonics scope and sequence of the district’s adopted Tier 1 core. Most decodable book libraries are level-tagged but not lesson-tagged, so teachers spend significant time hunting for texts that match the specific structured-literacy lesson their student is on. Storytime’s decodable library and on-demand generation addresses that gap with lesson-tagged texts.
3. Sustaining the structured-literacy framework after Act 422 training. Teachers complete LETRS-aligned coursework, but classroom tools often lag the training. The Storytime customizable-phonics-curriculum layer gives teachers a digital practice environment that matches the structured-literacy framework they learn — explicit phonics, decoding-first text, ongoing fluency measurement, and per-student journey adjustment without leaving the published scope.
Disclaimer
This page is a plain-English summary written for district decision-makers. It is not legal advice and does not substitute for the text of Act 108, Act 422, LDOE bulletins, or guidance published at louisianabelieves.com. Specific compliance questions should be directed to the Louisiana Department of Education or to your district’s legal counsel. Curriculum lists and screening requirements are updated periodically; always check the current LDOE guidance before making procurement or implementation decisions.
How Storytime supports Louisiana districts
ESSA Tier 4 evidence rationale + structured-literacy alignment.
Storytime sits on top of the structured-literacy curricula Louisiana 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 LA's MTSS framework.
FAQ
Common questions about Louisiana's literacy law.
- What does Act 108 actually require?
- Act 108 of 2021 requires every Louisiana public-school student in kindergarten through third grade to be screened for characteristics of dyslexia and broader reading risk. Screening must occur each year, results must be reported to parents, and students identified as at-risk must receive Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention. The intent is early identification — catching reading difficulty before it compounds — rather than waiting until a student fails.
- What teacher training is required under Act 422?
- Act 422 of 2022 expanded mandatory structured-literacy professional development for Louisiana K-6 teachers and instructional coaches. The training is LETRS-aligned (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) and grounded in the Science of Reading — explicit phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Many districts use the LDOE-supported LETRS rollout; others use equivalent state-approved coursework.
- Why is screening K-3 but teacher training K-6?
- The two acts cover different mechanisms. Universal dyslexia and reading-risk screening (Act 108) is concentrated in K-3, the window where early identification has the highest impact. Structured-literacy teacher training (Act 422) extends through grade 6 because reading instruction continues to require Science-of-Reading-aligned methodology well past third grade — vocabulary, morphology, fluency, and comprehension all depend on a structured-literacy foundation in the upper-elementary grades.
- How does the LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list work?
- The Louisiana Department of Education publishes a list of Tier 1 Reading Curriculum materials that have been reviewed for alignment to the state's ELA standards and to Science-of-Reading principles. Districts must select their K-5 core ELA program from this list. The list is updated periodically; always check the current LDOE list at louisianabelieves.com before adopting. Districts can supplement with materials outside the list, but the core program must be on it.
- Does Louisiana have a three-cueing ban like Florida or North Carolina?
- Louisiana does not have an explicit statutory ban on three-cueing as a word-recognition strategy in the way some other states do. Instead, the state achieves structured-literacy alignment indirectly: by requiring K-5 cores to come from the LDOE Tier 1 Reading Curriculum list, and by mandating LETRS-aligned teacher training under Act 422. Curricula built around three-cueing or balanced-literacy strategies generally would not appear on the Tier 1 list. The effect is similar even though the statutory mechanism differs.
- What happens if a student is identified at-risk by Act 108 screening?
- Schools must notify the parent or guardian of the screening result and provide Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention. Intervention typically includes additional small-group or one-on-one structured-literacy instruction, progress monitoring, and ongoing communication with parents. Students who do not respond to intervention may move toward a formal dyslexia or special-education evaluation under separate state and federal procedures.
- Where does Storytime fit in a Louisiana-compliant literacy stack?
- Storytime is positioned as the digital practice and assessment layer on top of a Louisiana-approved Tier 1 core. We cross-tag our decodable book library to the scope and sequence of structured-literacy programs commonly adopted in Louisiana, support the ORF and decoding measurement teachers need for progress monitoring under Act 108, and our LETRS-aligned design language matches the structured-literacy framework Louisiana teachers learn under Act 422.
Disclaimer: This page summarizes publicly-available information about Louisiana's literacy law and is provided for educational reference. It is not legal advice. State requirements evolve — verify current rules with the Louisiana Department of Education and your district legal counsel before making compliance decisions. Last reviewed: May 2026.