Senate Bill 387 - Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021

• Establishes definition of "Science of Reading" as evidence-based reading instruction addressing phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension that can be differentiated for individual students.

• Creates Early Literacy Program within Department of Public Instruction to provide third-party teacher training in Science of Reading for NC Pre-K educators and administrators, integrate age-appropriate resources, and administer formative assessments to measure kindergarten readiness.

• Requires elementary education teacher preparation programs to include coursework in Science of Reading and early literacy intervention strategies aligned with Science of Reading before July 1, 2022.

• Mandates State Board of Education develop literacy instruction standards aligned with Science of Reading by May 15, 2022, with all local school administrative units submitting literacy curriculum explanations by December 15, 2022, and full statewide implementation by 2024-2025 school year.

• Establishes Individual Reading Plans for kindergarten through third grade students demonstrating reading difficulty, requires reading camps with minimum 72 hours of instruction for struggling readers, implements teacher signing bonuses of at least $1,200 and reading camp performance bonuses of at least $150 per student.