Something most parents of struggling readers know instinctively: schools don’t find problems they’re not required to look for. The accountability mechanisms built into federal education law — annual reading assessments, mandatory reporting on which students are falling behind — are blunt instruments, and imperfect ones. But they were the lever that forced schools to identify struggling readers early, rather than wait until third grade, fifth grade, or middle school to act.
This week, Arkansas became the fifth state to receive a federal waiver loosening those requirements. The International Dyslexia Association’s 2025 definition is explicit: “language and literacy support before and during the early years of education is particularly effective.” That is the science. Wait-to-fail is the system that reasserts itself when the accountability structures requiring early identification are removed. The federal floor that backed that science just got lower — in five states, with more likely to follow.
Five states have now received federal waivers that loosen education accountability requirements — and the assessment structures being simplified were the same ones designed to catch struggling readers before wait-to-fail sets in. Here is what parents need to know before back-to-school season.
Common questions
Does this federal waiver affect my child’s IEP or 504 plan?
What questions should I ask my child’s school about early reading identification?
My state doesn’t have one of these waivers. Does any of this affect us?
Is there evidence that looser federal accountability leads to worse outcomes for struggling readers?
5 states loosened federal education accountability. The IDA's 2025 definition says early intervention is what the science demands. These two facts point in opposite directions. Parents: ask your school these questions before fall.
What Arkansas just received
On July 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education approved Arkansas’ “Returning Education to the States” waiver, making Arkansas the fifth state — after Iowa, Louisiana, Indiana, and Vermont — to receive this package of federal flexibilities. The waiver consolidates four federal funding streams into one block, redirecting $8.8 million over four years. Arkansas also became the 21st state, a record, to receive Ed-Flex authority: the power to waive specific federal requirements for local school districts without seeking prior approval from Washington.
Under the waiver, Arkansas can simplify its education accountability system. Advanced students in grades five and six can now take high school-level assessments in place of their grade-level reading and math tests, and the same flexibility extends to reading/language arts in grades five through eight. The Arkansas Department of Education also gains the authority to waive additional federal requirements for local districts without federal review.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said: “Arkansas is demonstrating exactly why the Trump Administration is returning education to the states: to give students a better shot at success by trusting the people closest to them.” Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders added: “Arkansas has proven that when you trust parents, empower teachers, and put students ahead of bureaucracy, kids succeed.”
Arkansas is demonstrating exactly why the Trump Administration is returning education to the states: to give students a better shot at success by trusting the people closest to them.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
What the coverage misses: accountability is how struggling readers get found
The mainstream framing of these waivers is a debate about federal control versus state autonomy. That framing misses what the accountability requirements were actually doing for children who struggle with reading. The assessment architecture being “simplified” was built on a specific premise: that schools need external pressure to identify struggling readers early, because without it, they default to waiting. Wait-to-fail isn’t a conspiracy — it’s what institutions do when identifying a problem early costs resources and the incentive to look is removed.
The IDA’s 2025 definition of dyslexia — the first major update in 23 years — explicitly made early intervention the standard: “language and literacy support before and during the early years of education is particularly effective.” That standard is backed by neuroimaging research from Yale and Stanford showing that early intervention changes the brain’s reading circuitry in ways that later intervention cannot match. The accountability waivers move in the opposite direction from what that evidence demands.
These waivers don’t arrive alone. On June 16, 2026, the Department of Education announced it was splitting oversight of special education — moving IDEA programs to HHS and civil rights enforcement to the DOJ. Education law expert Janet R. Decker, PhD, JD, of Indiana University Bloomington, stated: “This will result in uneven enforcement of the federal civil rights protections that are promised by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, as well as federal entitlements promised by IDEA.” The office that monitors whether states follow IDEA faces a proposed cut from 163 staff to 31. Parents filing federal complaints now face a system with more than half its regional offices closed. Two different policies, same direction: the federal oversight floor is lower on two dimensions simultaneously.
Key takeaways
- The five waiver states: Arkansas joins Iowa, Louisiana, Indiana, and Vermont in receiving federal flexibilities that consolidate funding and loosen assessment accountability requirements, with Ed-Flex authority allowing more requirements to be waived without federal review.
- Early identification is what's at risk: The IDA's 2025 definition explicitly states early language and literacy support is particularly effective; the accountability structures being loosened were the mechanisms that forced schools to act on that science rather than wait.
- IDEA oversight simultaneously weakened: The IDEA monitoring office faces a proposed cut from 163 to 31 staff, and the Office for Civil Rights has closed more than half its regional offices — parents face federal complaint pathways that are harder to use.
What to do before school starts
If your child’s school is in one of the five waiver states — Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Indiana, or Vermont — ask directly, before the school year starts: Does our school still screen all students for reading difficulties in the early grades? What happens when a child falls below the threshold? How quickly does additional support begin?
Parents everywhere now face a second shift. Federal complaint pathways for IEP and 504 disputes are significantly harder to access. Understanding what your child’s rights are and how to pursue them through state channels is no longer optional background knowledge. Ask your school: if my child’s IEP or 504 plan isn’t being followed, who do I contact at the state level? Get that name before you need it.
The brain you’re worried about today is not the brain your child will have after six months of the right kind of practice — that’s not a motivational poster, it’s what the neuroplasticity research actually shows. No federal waiver changes that. What changes is whether the system is designed to find your child early and get them the right support. Right now, that depends more on you than it did two years ago.
Arkansas has proven that when you trust parents, empower teachers, and put students ahead of bureaucracy, kids succeed.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Parents didn’t create wait-to-fail. It’s what institutions do when the pressure to find struggling readers early is removed — the path of least resistance when the floor drops. The science on early intervention is settled; the IDA and decades of reading research say so plainly. The federal oversight system is being restructured in ways that make that early floor harder to hold. But no waiver can remove the most effective lever in the room: a parent who knows what questions to ask and won’t stop asking them. If your child struggles with reading, writing, or attention, the Learning Success All Access membership gives you the framework, the science, and the strategies to advocate from a position of knowledge — and that knowledge doesn’t depend on which state you live in. Learn more at Learning Success All Access.
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A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
References
- U.S. Department of Education Press Release (July 7, 2026) — U.S. Department of Education Approves Arkansas Returning Education to the States Waiver
- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (July 7, 2026) — Trump administration grants Arkansas waiver loosening federal education rules
- Understood.org / Janet R. Decker, PhD, JD (June 25, 2026) — What do Trump administration changes to special education mean for kids with disabilities
- International Dyslexia Association 2025 Definition of Dyslexia
- Shaywitz et al. (Yale) and Temple et al. (Stanford) — fMRI studies on early reading intervention and brain-pathway development
