Mississippi legislators are again pursuing an expansion of the state's 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act, this time extending its reach from kindergarten through third grade into grades 4 through 8. House Bill 810, introduced in the 2026 regular session, follows HB 857, which died in February 2025. A separate Senate bill, SB 2487, had cleared three of five legislative stages as of March 3, 2026.
What the bill would do
HB 810 would require all school districts to administer universal reading screeners three times per year to students in grades 4 through 8. The screenings would happen within the first 30 days of the school year, at midyear, and at the end of the school year, with progress monitoring between those windows. A diagnostic tool would guide instruction based on each student's needs.
The bill directs the Mississippi Department of Education to provide professional learning grounded in the science of reading for teachers, literacy coaches, interventionists, tutors, and school leaders serving those grades. Topics would include explicit and systematic instruction in phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, morphology, vocabulary, and comprehension. A separate credit-bearing structured literacy course is required for students in grades 6 through 8, and the use of three-cueing instructional materials is barred.
Teachers in grades 4 through 8 would receive job-embedded coaching under MDE's Literacy Coaching Model. Educator preparation programs would also have to train candidates in scientifically based reading instruction for elementary, special education, and middle school licensure.
The bill does not include a grade-retention provision, which is a key difference from the 2013 K-3 law. Under that original law, third graders scoring at the lowest achievement level on the statewide assessment are not promoted to fourth grade unless they qualify for a good cause exemption.
Middle Literacy Support Schools
MDE would develop a formula to identify what the bill calls Middle Literacy Support Schools, or M-LSS, based on MAAP reading proficiency data. Districts with identified schools must implement the literacy program as designed, help identify students who need intervention, and make teachers available for training. Parents of any student in grades 4 through 8 identified with a significant reading deficiency must be notified in writing within 15 days, with a description of the proposed interventions and supplemental services.
MDE must report annually to the legislature by December 1 on how many students were identified, what interventions were provided, and what evidence exists of literacy gains. The bill's effective date is July 1, 2026.
Earlier efforts and agency groundwork
HB 857, the 2025 version of the expansion, died on the House calendar on February 13, 2025, according to FastDemocracy. The current bill re-introduces the same core framework.
Before any legislation was filed, MDE had already piloted a program called Sustaining Strong Secondary Readers. Its district application deadline was January 10, 2024, and it trained middle and high school district teams in science-of-reading-based secondary literacy and structured literacy approaches, according to an MDE EdUpdate post. The Mississippi Board of Education's 2023-2027 strategic plan also called for expanding literacy coaches to grades K through 8 and revising the state literacy plan to include adolescent literacy recommendations.
Existing state support and research partnership
The Florida Center for Reading Research, in partnership with MDE, is providing in-depth consultation, training, and follow-up coaching for evidence-based intervention practices for grades 4 through 8 literacy intervention teachers in four Mississippi districts: Canton, Columbus, Laurel, and George County. The center's focus includes staff competence, leadership, and organizational supports as implementation drivers. The project is described by FCRR as ongoing with mixed evidence of effectiveness so far.