MCPER has been awarded a $6.4 million contract to conduct an audit of teacher preparation programs at 50 Ohio public and private institutions of higher education as part of a statewide mandate to base English language arts instruction on the principles of the science of reading.
MCPER will lead the 18-month Ohio Department of Higher Education Evaluation – Science of Reading Audit in collaboration with Gibson Consulting Group and Resources for Learning. Greg Roberts serves as principal investigator of the new project. Jennifer Schnakenberg is co-principal investigator and project director. Sharon Vaughn chairs the project’s Scientific Advisory Committee.
Ohio has made major commitments to the teaching workforce of the future, and MCPER supports the state’s embrace of evidence-based approaches to teaching reading. MCPER will provide state leaders and leaders of teacher preparation programs with reliable feedback on the status of these important reforms.
This work is part of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget, approved by lawmakers in June 2023, which requires the science of reading to be the foundation of reading instruction in all schools. The mandate, which applies to K–12 schools and the licensure programs in colleges and universities, is in response to flagging literacy scores in the state. According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, nearly 37.7% of third-graders and 41.1% of fourth-graders statewide did not achieve a proficient score on the state’s English language arts tests. The audit of courses in higher education institutions to be conducted by MCPER is one component of the overall initiative; also included is funding for educator professional development, new instructional materials, and literacy coaches.
“We are eager for this work to begin and pleased to have MCPER leading this effort,” said Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Mike Duffey. “We know that language and literacy rates improve through the science of reading, so it is important to have our educator preparation programs aligned to these standards as we prepare the next generation of teachers.”
The science of reading is based on decades of research on how children best learn to read. Ohio defines the science of reading as “an interdisciplinary body of scientific evidence that (a) informs how students learn to read and write proficiently; (b) explains why some students have difficulty with reading and writing; (c) indicates that all students benefit from explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing to become effective readers; [and] (d) does not rely on any model of teaching students to read based on meaning, structure and syntax, and visual cues, including a three-cueing approach.”
State lawmaker Tom Young, who chairs the Ohio House Higher Education Committee, said the initiative will “change the entire future of what we’re doing in Ohio. We know that.”
Work is already under way, with formal audits set to begin in January. Institutions found to be out of compliance will receive support and have a year to remediate deficiencies.