Take Action

Call on OSU Board of Regents to ensure teachers are trained to teach reading with phonics—not discredited methods

Oklahoma State University has been training future teachers using a discredited reading method that encourages students to guess words instead of sounding them out phonetically—a practice known as “three-cueing.”

This failed approach has been widely criticized and is now banned in Oklahoma public schools. 

Despite that ban, OSU’s College of Education continued promoting the Reading Recovery program—an initiative grounded in three-cueing. Research shows this program doesn’t just fail students—it actively sets them back. A 2023 study found that students who participated in Reading Recovery ended up a half to a full grade level behind their peers by third and fourth grade.

That’s unacceptable.

State-funded colleges should not be training teachers in methods proven to harm students.

Oklahoma students deserve teachers trained in proven, evidence-based reading instruction—specifically phonics, not guessing games. 

📢 Use our easy action tool to ask the OSU Board of Regents, Gov. Kevin Stitt, and your state lawmakers to make sure teacher training focuses on phonics—and that no state money goes to failed programs like Reading Recovery.