Katie Pekel, Executive Director of Educational Leadership in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) was featured in an article by MPR that discusses the impact of the recently passed education omnibus bill which lawmakers have called the Read Act. This bill provides a $100 million investment to improve literacy instruction across the state.

The article states, “When it comes to how the bill aligns with what the body of research says on how kids learn to read, Pekel had only praise:

‘It’s really clear in laying out that we’re first going to identify what research and experts actually say work … that has not happened in my time as an educator in Minnesota,’ Pekel said. ‘This is how to teach kids to read, not what to teach kids.'”

The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) will be working with the Minnesota Department of Education on a variety of activities in relation to the Read Act.