NC Dyslexia Law · DPI Guidance · Not Binding Law
NC DPI Structured Literacy Brief — IDA 2019 Educator Training Initiatives (archived 2025-05-03)
Plain English summary
This is an archived NC DPI brief summarizing the International Dyslexia Association's 2019 guide to Structured Literacy, which describes what research-backed reading instruction looks like and why most teachers are not currently prepared to deliver it. It explains that effective reading instruction must be explicit, systematic, and grounded in the science of reading — covering phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing — and that leveled-text guessing strategies and incidental phonics teaching are not sufficient. It also outlines IDA's accreditation and credentialing programs as tools parents, advocates, and policymakers can use to ensure students have access to qualified reading teachers.
Key requirements
- Effective literacy instruction must be explicit (teacher clearly models and explains skills) and systematic (planned sequence, prerequisites before advanced skills) — no specific statute cited in this text
- Educators should screen students and monitor progress using data to promptly identify children who need help and to inform core instruction and interventions — no specific statute cited in this text
- Interventions should be appropriately intensive, with smaller group sizes and more time for children who are further behind — no specific statute cited in this text
- Students with dyslexia require particular emphasis on phonemic awareness and phonological processing in intervention — no specific statute cited in this text
- English Learners require additional emphasis on vocabulary and academic language in both general education and intervention — no specific statute cited in this text
- Phonics instruction should begin at the grapheme-phoneme (smallest unit) level rather than onset-rime or whole-word approaches for better outcomes, especially on advanced code skills — no specific statute cited in this text
- Progress monitoring assessments should be used to track student progress and make ongoing adjustments to instruction and intervention — no specific statute cited in this text
- Policymakers can incorporate Structured Literacy competency requirements into educator preparation legislation and policies — no specific statute cited in this text
- CERI-credentialed educators must complete a minimum of 10 hours of KPS-aligned professional development annually to renew their credential — no specific statute cited in this text
- All students regardless of socioeconomic status should have access to teachers who have mastered the principles and practices of Structured Literacy — no specific statute cited in this text
Affected parties
- General education teachers (must comply with structured literacy principles)
- Special educators and reading interventionists (must comply with structured literacy principles)
- Teacher preparation programs (compliance with IDA accreditation standards)
- School administrators (hiring and program selection decisions)
- State policymakers (educator preparation legislation)
- Students with dyslexia (benefit)
- Students with reading disabilities (benefit)
- English Learners (benefit)
- Struggling adolescent readers (benefit)
- Parents and advocates (empowered to request credentialed professionals)
Advocacy note
GUIDANCE NOT STATUTE — this is an archived NC DPI informational brief republishing a 2019 IDA document; it carries no binding legal force, but it directly informs the Science of Reading instructional framework that underlies NC's statutory mandates (see G.S. 115C-83.3 et seq. and G.S. 115C-83.6), and its explicit critique of leveled-text guessing strategies and larger-unit phonics approaches mirrors the legislative rationale behind NC's three-cueing prohibition — practitioners can cite this DPI-endorsed brief in IEP meetings and professional development arguments to reinforce that the state agency itself has distributed this research base.