The 2026 North Carolina Primary Literacy Blueprint: From Training to Mastery
In 2021, North Carolina’s Excellent Public Schools Act set the wheels in motion for elevating explicit, evidence-based instruction and advancing student literacy gains statewide.
For North Carolina’s preK–3 educators in 2026, the landscape has shifted from the initial phase of learning the science of reading to the high-stakes phase of proving its impact on student outcomes.
With the 2026 ELA Standard Course of Study now in full effect for elementary school educators, here is the state of the 2026 primary landscape for North Carolina teachers, specialists, and administrators.
1. The End of the ‘Grace Period:’ Full Accountability for K–3
As of the January 2026 State Board of Education update, educators at all North Carolina elementary schools are required to demonstrate 100 percent alignment with science of reading methodologies in core instruction and intervention blocks.
- What this means for the classroom: While the state board of education approved the updates in January 2026, the new standards are officially set to take effect during the 2027–2028 school year. This year is the first “Full Accountability Year.” Audits by state officials and district leaders are no longer looking for “intent;” they are looking for the direct application of the science of reading, focusing on how phonemic awareness is explicitly bridged into fluency and comprehension.
2. High-Impact Tutoring: A Permanent State Pillar
One of the most significant wins for students and educators in the state’s primary grades during 2026 is the successful transition of tutoring from “emergency relief” to a “permanent staple.” While educators in other states saw tutoring programs vanish when federal ESSER funds expired, North Carolina officials successfully moved these programs into the permanent state budget via the NC Education Corps.
- The 2026 Shift: Tutoring is now a legislated component of the “Read to Achieve” mandate. For a first or second grade teacher, this means having a state-funded, evidence-based “Literacy Tutor” as a permanent fixture in the building to provide the Tier 2 and Tier 3 “dosage” required for struggling readers.
3. Strengthening the PreK to Kindergarten ‘Knowledge Bridge’
A major trend in North Carolina for 2026 is the formalization of the literacy bridge for students in preK and kindergarten. The 2026 standards prioritize phonological awareness in preK as a direct, mandated prerequisite for the kindergarten curriculum. This ensures when the state’s youngest learners enter the public school system, the foundational “architecture” for decoding is already under construction.
Science of Reading Solutions From Voyager Sopris Learning
Sound Partners is a supplementary tutoring program for students in grades K–3. It builds foundational early literacy skills and meets the criteria for the “Strong” category for “Solid Outcomes” of Evidence for ESSA. Follow-up studies found positive effects on word reading and comprehension skills were maintained two years later. Many independent evaluations of the program’s research base also have confirmed its efficacy.
Power Readers and Supercharged Readers, mentioned in LETRS, are specially designed K–4 decodable readers that contain a controlled set of words and phonetically regular patterns. These decodables align with phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction, allowing emerging readers to practice foundational reading skills. Science of reading research confirms students need practice reading text with phonics patterns they have been explicitly taught and that follow a Scope and Sequence with decoding skill instruction.
Voyager Passport® is approved as an intervention program for phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. It is a research-proven intervention for grades K–5. Through a blended, teacher-led format, students receive explicit and systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading, plus language and writing. Voyager Passport accelerates student literacy achievement by targeting critical skills and providing strategies learners need to become fluent, on-level readers. It can be used for students in Tier 2 and Tier 3.
District leaders can reinforce the professional learning of the state’s LETRS-trained teachers by supporting their instruction with science of reading-based literacy solutions like those from Voyager Sopris Learning®.
Sound Partners is a research-based, supplementary tutoring program that provides individual instruction in phonics-based early reading skills. Through explicit instruction, engaging 30-minute lesson activities, and storybook reading practice, students work to improve alphabetic, phonemic awareness, decoding, word identification, and spelling skills.
The Power Readers series is comprised of 28 decodable stories with pre- and post-reading skill-building activities. As stories progress, students work on the systematic building of phonological awareness, decoding and irregular word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, morphology, and comprehension.
Supercharged Readers is a series of 37 decodable and controlled text chapter books. Building on the alphabetic code learned in Power Readers, it follows an intentional sequence that builds on syllabic and morphemic principles to help students access increasingly challenging text. It includes pre- and post-reading activity pages that give teachers the strategies to supercharge their readers.
The journey to literacy requires essential tools to ensure students who struggle can reach grade level. Updated Voyager Passport® is a K–5 literacy intervention that provides comprehensive, explicit, and systemic instruction in the five essential components of reading and includes language and writing—in just 30 minutes of instruction per day.