The Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) is seeking an external evaluator to assist in documenting and reporting the progress of the Alaska Reads Act. This evaluator will utilize diverse measures to address key evaluation questions and assess the Act's implementation effectiveness. Their expertise will offer comprehensive insights to support DEED in fulfilling its reporting obligations and refining program strategies.

Supporting all students to read at grade level by the end of third grade is the top priority identified in Alaska's Education Challenge.

The Department of Education & Early Development is responsible for supporting and training pre-kindergarten through third grade teachers, curriculum specialists, and other educators by providing evidence-based instructional strategies on literacy. In June 2022, Governor Dunleavy signed the Alaska Reads Act into law, creating four components to support early literacy.

The Four Components of the Reads Act:

• District Reading Intervention Program
• Department Reading Program
• Early Education Program
• Alaska Distance Learning Consortium

Several teams were created to manage the planning and implementation of the Alaska Reads Act. In addition to the four main components of the Act listed above, the department needed to address new requirements for Teacher Qualifications and evaluate new data collection requirements.

A Report to the Legislature is required annually. This report will be created in partnership with an external evaluator. Section 50 of the Alaska Reads Act outlines the requirements for this report (page 44).