POLICY
HOW WE’RE DRIVING POSITIVE CHANGE WITH CURRENT LEGISLATION
What Educators Need to Know About Georgia House Bill 1193
HB 1193, the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026, has passed the Georgia General Assembly and now awaits the Governor’s signature. HB 1193 brings changes that will impact classrooms, coaching, and professional learning across the state.
Overall, this bill is about scaling the statewide literacy infrastructure by providing a more collaborative, aligned approach between state agencies and initiatives than in the past. It also provides a stronger focus on evidence-based literacy by aligning instruction with research-based practices in reading, including explicit, systematic instruction in foundational skills.
Key takeaways:
Impact on literacy coaching:
$70 million in funding for school-based literacy coaches for all K-3 schools
Establishment of a more coordinated, statewide approach to literacy coaching, ensuring consistency in how educators are supported across districts
Establishment of a Literacy Coaching Endorsement, creating a pathway to ensure coaches are well-prepared to support teachers and improve student outcomes
Requires school systems to have unified literacy plans
Adopts the International Dyslexia Association definition of dyslexia
Creates the Georgia Literacy Coordinating Committee, which will maintain and amend the Georgia Literacy Plan and support coordination of efforts of all state-wide literacy and reading education programs
Creates the Georgia Literacy Task Force to be convened by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and will be responsible for providing recommendations on universal reading screeners and programs of high-quality instructional materials.
Georgia Early Literacy & Dyslexia Act | HB 307
This legislation merges HB 538 and SB 48 that were passed in 2023 and 2019, respectively. HB 307 updates a number of requirements for students with characteristics of dyslexia including providing a pathway to identify whether students have characteristics of dyslexia and for schools to report identified students to the Georgia DOE. In addition, the act:
Tasks the Deal Center with leading the state universal reading screener review every three years.
Establishes the Literacy Coach Coordinating Committee and adds a Coordinator of Georgia Literacy Coaching at the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The Committee is tasked with coordinating statewide literacy coaching efforts.
Prohibits the use of three-cueing in reading instruction and in high quality instructional materials.
Approved Literacy Screeners | SB 464
Following substantial debate, the State Board of Education (SBOE) approved a list of five literacy screeners that will be used in accordance with the Georgia Early Literacy Act.
The Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy has launched a new project to help every student become a proficient reader by the end of third grade: the Unified Literacy Coaching Project.
In alignment with the Georgia Early Literacy Act, the state and school districts are investing in literacy coaches to help K-3 teachers understand and consistently apply structured literacy in their classrooms. The project’s goal is to ensure literacy coaches are able to provide teachers with the support they need to deliver effective literacy instruction.
The Deal Center, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and funded by the Georgia Council on Literacy, leads this work to build a unified and sustainable literacy coaching model across Georgia.
Unified Literacy Coaching Project
Landscape Analysis of Literacy Coaching
We will review current state and district coaching systems and practices to understand what is in place and what additional support literacy coaches and teachers need.
Georgia Literacy Coaching Competencies
We will develop Literacy Coach Competencies and use aligned knowledge, skills, and abilities to set a statewide standard for effective literacy coaching.
Research and Evaluation Systems
We will design an evaluation system to help ensure state literacy coaches support teachers effectively and help improve student literacy knowledge and skills.