We are a coalition representing a movement of education reform which is working to ensure all children thrive academically and no child is left behind, regardless of their starting point.

Twenty years ago, a similar group of us wrote to the then Commonwealth Education Minister, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson AO, calling for a review relating to the teaching of reading.

This led to the 2005 National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy (Australia). In the decades that have followed, we have failed as a nation to implement the recommendations of that review.

We cannot waste any more time, we must bridge the research to classroom gap.

Now is the time for a nation-building education reform effort to ensure every Australian school student can exercise their fundamental right to read, write and spell, and engage with academic learning across the year levels.