OHIO
The Ohio House Higher Education Committee recently started hosting testimony from educators and policy experts about the Science of Reading. “Explicitly teaching the sounds and symbols of our language and skills for language comprehension creates proficient readers,” said Steve Dackin, director of the Department of Education and Workforce.
Ohio’s two-year, $191 billion budget included Science of Reading provisions—$86 million for educator professional development, $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials, and $18 million for literacy coaches. Ohio colleges and universities are examining their teacher preparation programs as public school districts are starting to implement the Science of Reading.
The Ohio Department of Higher Education chancellor Mike Duffey is required to create an audit process that shows how every educator training program aligns with teaching the Science of Reading instruction.
The formal audits will start in January 2025, and Duffey can revoke a college or university’s approval if it fails the audit.
“Ohio is relatively unique among the states that have implemented the Science of Reading because we truly have teeth behind the legislative requirement,” Duffey said during a committee meeting. “This is our most powerful tool to ensure fidelity to the policy enacted by the legislature.”
Ohio has 50 approved educator preparation programs in 13 public universities and 37 independent colleges and universities. More than 4,430 people graduated through those programs in 2023, Duffey said. The state’s public school districts and community schools will start using core curriculum and instructional materials for English language arts and reading intervention programs from lists made by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce next school year.
About a third of Ohio’s school districts and community schools are already using at least one of the initially approved core reading instruction curricula.
House Higher Education Committee chairman Tom Young said he has received positive feedback on the Science of Reading from people in his district who are teachers.
“I’ve seen nothing but enthusiasm,” he said. “I was surprised, quite frankly.”
Higher Education Committee ranking member Joe Miller (D-Amherst) questioned why the Science of Reading isn’t being implemented for all Ohio students under the state budget.
“Why is this just public schools and charter schools?” he asked. “Everybody deserves to have this.”
Those who testified said nonpublic schools can use the Science of Reading if they want.
MICHIGAN
Dyslexia bills supported by Science of Reading advocates have moved beyond all previous attempts to turn them into Michigan law.
Testimony for the two bills, which supporters say would help schools better identify and teach students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, has begun in the House Education Committee. The bills have already passed a vote in the Senate.
The legislation would require Michigan’s K–12 public schools and teacher preparation programs to use principles from the Science of Reading. Previous iterations of the legislation passed in the Senate in 2022 but never got to a hearing in the House Education Committee.
Senator Jeff Irwin, a Democrat from Ann Arbor who has pushed for years for bills to address reading instruction for students with dyslexia, said the legislation would help all kids who have trouble grasping early literacy instruction.
“I’m not here to argue that phonics is the only fundamental skill,” said Irwin during the hearing. “And I’m not here to argue that it’s the only thing that we need to be teaching kids. I’m here to argue that it is a fundamental skill, and it is a thing that we must be attending to, and that by failing to attend to it, we miss a lot.”
Michigan schools currently are not required to follow a set reading curriculum and are able to select their own under local control. The state provides some guidance on using evidence-based programs. The bills would add more direction to schools on approaches teachers should use.
