Legislation that would prohibit Oklahoma teachers from using the discredited “three cueing” method to teach reading is now just one vote away from Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk.

Supporters predicted the legislation could help change the educational trajectory of many Oklahoma students. On the 2023 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests, Oklahoma’s fourth-grade NAEP reading score declined significantly and outranked only three states and the District of Columbia.

“I firmly believe that getting literacy correct is the foundation for future learning,” said state Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond.

Senate Bill 362, by Pugh and state Rep. Rhonda Baker, renames Oklahoma’s existing state Reading Sufficiency Act as the Strong Readers Act and implements several changes to the state reading law.

Among the changes included in the bill, one provision states that Oklahoma public-school teachers “shall be prohibited from using the three-cueing system model of teaching students to read” starting in the 2027-2028 school year.

The bill defines the “three-cueing system” as “any model of teaching students to read based on meaning, structure, syntax, and visual cues, which may also be known as meaning, structure, and visual (MSV), balanced literacy, or whole language.”

The three-cueing method of reading instruction has come under increasing fire in recent years as researchers have demonstrated, repeatedly, that it does not work.

In 2019, APM Reports noted that three-cueing is a theory of instruction “that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked.”

ExcelinEd in Action noted that the three-cueing system “can be boiled down to this: Teachers using this method instruct students to guess.”

At least 10 other states have banned the use of the three-cueing system, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

SB 362 also requires that Oklahoma teachers be trained in “the science of reading to provide explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, encoding, writing, and comprehension and implement reading strategies that research has shown to be successful in improving reading among students with reading difficulties.”

Many teachers working in Oklahoma classrooms today have not received robust instruction on how to teach reading in ways that are proven to work.

When the National Council on Teacher Quality reviewed teacher-training programs at 12 Oklahoma colleges and universities, none of the programs received an A, meaning none instructed future teachers on all five components of reading.

The council found five Oklahoma teacher-degree programs even taught future educators to use multiple techniques that are contrary to research-based practices, including techniques that can inhibit reading progress.

Only two programs were found to provide sufficient information to future teachers on phonemic awareness (Cameron University and Northwestern Oklahoma State University).

The bill’s provisions take effect in the 2025-2026 school year.

Bipartisan Support

The measure drew bipartisan support.

State Sen. Carri Hicks, an Oklahoma City Democrat and former teacher, said training in the science of reading is important.

“I recently completed 55 hours’ worth of graduate curriculum related to the science of reading, and I can tell you that through that intense training, many of my personal teaching practices have shifted to be more inclusive with an intentional focus on phonemic and phonological awareness, in particular, to make sure that our kids can all become strong readers,” Hicks said.

But state Sen. Mary Boren, a Norman Democrat who is a former school counselor, said the legislation should allow parents to opt their children out of reading tests under certain circumstances, noting that otherwise all children may be tested repeatedly.

“It does not have a provision for parents to opt their child out,” Boren said. “Especially if it is clear that they’re reading above grade level and they’re checking all the boxes, they shouldn’t have to do it over and over again. In fact, I think it takes away from the ability of the teachers to do interventions for those that are behind if they are having to score and track and collect data and review data on all the kids that are at grade level or above grade level. Now one check-in is fine, but doing it three times a year, to me there ought to be a way that parents or teachers can opt out those students that are clearly at or above grade level.”

Some critics also worry that the provisions related to teacher training will not be effective since the training will be handled by the same Oklahoma colleges that have failed to properly train teachers for years.

Former state Rep. Carolyn Coleman, a Republican who represented Moore from 1991 to 2005 and focused on literacy efforts during her tenure, is among those critics.

“The Colleges of Education have not, do not, and will not prepare their teacher candidates with the systematic, intensive, multi-sensory phonics that all children need to learn to read,” Coleman said.

She said other providers should be used for teacher training on literacy and the science of reading.

SB 362 passed the Oklahoma Senate on a 44-1 vote. The bill now proceeds to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.