A governor mandated task force aimed at reforming how colleges of education prepare teachers to instruct reading has finalized a sweeping set of recommendations that would demand a “big shift in practice” at Oregon’s colleges and universities, task force members say.
Gov. Tina Kotek launched the group in May 2023, after reporting by The Oregonian/OregonLive revealed that Oregon’s colleges of education take a piecemeal approach to literacy instruction grounded in the “science of reading.” The approach centers on teaching students phonics and rules of written language so they can reliably sound out words.
The 19 member panel of university professors and school administrators, lawmakers and teachers wrote nine pages of standards to update reading requirements so elementary teacher preparation programs would align with research-backed practices and the state’s Early Literacy Framework.
If approved by the state’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, which governs educator preparation, new elementary school teachers will have to understand the key pillars of the science of reading and evaluate the quality of instructional materials. They would also have to use assessments and data to adjust their literacy instruction. Educators training to become principals will also have to understand “effective literacy instruction” and be able to provide effective feedback to teachers they supervise. Teacher colleges would have to implement the new standards by the fall of 2026.
Reading advocates applaud the proposed standards as a meaningful step forward for the state, where only 40% of students score proficient on Oregon’s nationally benchmarked reading and writing tests. But some argue Oregon should adopt a more aggressive timeline and demand that all elementary educators trained in Oregon or coming in from out of state should pass a test to prove they’re ready to enter a classroom.
“The one thing that we would absolutely want to see strengthened is having a universally required licensure test,” said Angela Uherbelau, founder of advocacy group Oregon Kids Read. “Without it, we really risk perpetuating the status quo.”
Whether to demand aspiring Oregon educators pass a test on their reading and writing knowledge was a point of tension in the final meetings of the task force.
The National Council on Teacher Quality, a D.C. group that has watchdogged early literacy training in America’s colleges of education, says 20 states require licensure tests that it considers “strong” for measuring science of reading knowledge.
Some task force members see the tests as an accountability measure to ensure teacher colleges are sufficiently preparing new educators. Others argued that standardized tests have a level of bias that can negatively impact candidates from diverse backgrounds and that colleges of education are constantly evaluating students’ abilities as they progress through programs.
Task force members ultimately suggested that new educators take a test to demonstrate their reading and writing expertise but said that commission staff could find alternate ways for teachers to show proficiency if they don’t pass that test on their first try.
Co-chair Ronda Fritz, an early literacy professor at Eastern Oregon University, said during the council’s final meeting that she was “very hesitant” about allowing that alternate pathway, which she fears could be a “loophole” for teacher colleges to get around the new requirements. Any alternate measures will need quality control to make sure they’re really demanding new elementary educators are fully competent in literacy, Fritz said.
“The bottom line is we want to make sure we have competent educators who can get outcomes for kids, so I just want to make sure that there’s accountability,” Fritz said.
Council Co-chair Susan Gardner, dean of the college of education at Oregon State University, pushed back.
“If we don’t inherently trust that the (teacher colleges) are doing what they’re supposed to do, what was this entire process for?” Gardner said.
The Teacher Standards and Practices Commission is evaluating the task force’s recommendations and is expected to adopt the standards in July, Interim Director Melissa Goff said at the final June task force meeting. She said Monday that the agency will consider multiple ways for teacher candidates to prove their literacy knowledge, including a test.
Standardized tests tend to be geared toward white educators and people who speak English as a primary language and can have inherent biases that prevent educators from diverse backgrounds or with disabilities from effectively demonstrating their knowledge, Goff said.
The council is also concerned about the burden the cost of tests could put on educators, Goff said. The task force recommended the literacy test and its alternatives be free to Oregon teachers.
“We want to maximize the opportunity for folks to demonstrate their abilities,” Goff said.
The commission must also decide how it will require current educators, and educators transferring from out of state, to prove their science of reading knowledge.
The new standards drew mixed reviews from out of state experts in teacher preparation.
Ellen McIntyre, dean of the college of education at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s, said Oregon’s plan for improving standards was “outstanding” and one of the best she’s seen.
McIntyre was impressed that Oregon’s plan focuses on both the requirement for evidence-based instruction and the value in the diversity of student’s home languages and cultures. The plan also highlights the needs of multilingual learners, students with disabilities and gifted and talented students, McIntyre said.
“This is a plan that I think is going to ensure that evidence-based instruction is looked at through the lens of: Who am I educating?” McIntyre said. “It’s not just: All children kind of are the same.”
Edward Crowe, who runs a teacher preparation inspection company that audited science of reading in North Carolina colleges, said Oregon’s implementation timeline looked “relatively leisurely… given the magnitude of the problem.” He and Uherbelau think colleges could implement new standards sooner.
Kotek spokesperson Anca Matica said the governor fully supports the council’s recommendations. Kotek is also reviewing the council’s requests for more resources to support the implementation of the new standards, Matica said.
The task force recommended Oregon provide grants to help teacher colleges train their faculty and implement the new standards, as well as money to boost staffing at the teacher standards commission so it has sufficient capacity to oversee teacher colleges.
Kotek popped into the council’s final meeting in June to thank task force members for their work. She called the recommendations a “significant step forward.”
“We’re in a much better place. We have a pathway to improvement and strengthening what we need to be doing in the state because of your hard work,” Kotek said.
Council members told Kotek they were leaving optimistic.
Jennifer Whitten, principal of Greenway Elementary in Beaverton, said she is excited at the prospect of hiring teachers who have been training using these standards. In the last two years, Whitten said, her school has worked to shift its practices around reading. Her third graders, who started kindergarten over Zoom and wore masks in first grade while they were trying to learn word development, didn’t perform as well as she’d hoped on the state’s standardized tests this spring. But the second grade class finished with a strong understanding of word patterns and vowels and loves reading, she said.
“What they can read and do is far and above what we’ve ever had entering third graders be able to do,” she said. “I feel really hopeful.”
Corvallis School District literacy specialist Shahnaz Sahnow said teachers want progress. Her district got state early literacy grant money to train teachers on evidence-based reading practices. She wanted to recruit at least a handful of teachers to participate in a summer pilot program. Nearly 50 signed up.
“Teachers are hungry, and when there’s opportunity for the right kind of thing and it’s funded, I think it will have such huge impact on so many people and so many lives,” she said.
Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430.