Recommendations address teaching of reading and writing in elementary schools

Following a one-year review of Oregon’s early literacy education, a state council has released its final recommendations to strengthen educator preparation programs for teaching reading and writing in Oregon elementary schools.

In January, the Early Literacy Educator Preparation Council released initial recommendations to revise educator and school administrator preparation program standards for literacy instruction. Members of educator prep programs and the general public were able to submit feedback to the recommendations.

“These recommendations are a significant step forward,” Gov. Tina Kotek said. “I appreciate that the council has not just layered on new requirements. They have also tried to streamline existing standards and build on the things we’ve had and continue to be important, like dyslexia standards. In addition to the council, I want to thank Oregon’s educator preparation program faculty and leaders who took the time to share their perspectives with us. We listened, and many hours were spent taking your feedback into the revisions of the recommendations.”

State Rep. Boomer Wright (R-Coos Bay) served on the council.

“We must always do what’s in the best interest of our children,” Wright said. “These recommendations represent a way to support teachers and principals to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to do what we’re asking them to do for students. And to make sure that happens well, we also need to set up the right level of resources and support for our educator preparation programs to meet the new expectations the council has recommended.”

“I have been honored to serve on this council alongside an outstanding group of individuals with one goal in mind: improving literacy outcomes for all of Oregon’s children,” said Ronda Fritz, council co-chair and associate professor at Eastern Oregon University. “We were able to move the standards for Oregon’s teacher preparation programs to reflect what science tells us about how children learn to read as well as the content and methods that are critical for ensuring proficient readers. I believe these standards will give educator preparation programs a clear roadmap for designing courses and programs that will produce teachers with the essential knowledge and skills to create proficient readers and writers.”

“I am proud to have been part of the collaborative process that brought together so many different Oregon stakeholders to lay the groundwork for our educator preparation programs,” said Susan Gardner, council co-chair and dean of the College of Education at Oregon State University. “We had a wide range of expertise on this council — elementary school teachers and administrators, higher education faculty, state agency leaders, and our passionate representatives and senators. This made for a powerful team that brought together so many voices and perspectives, adding richness to the work we produced together.”

The recommendations were broken into three sections: educator preparation program (EPP) approval standards, implementation recommendations, and educator licensing standards recommendations.

Key takeaways from the recommendations on educator preparation program approval standards include:

• Combining reading instruction standards with dyslexia standards into one cohesive standard. This will streamline standards that are focused on teaching reading and writing.

• Creating new literacy standards that relate to the content of Oregon’s Early Literacy Framework and the models of reading acquisition embedded in the framework. These standards are designed to guide the preparation of kindergarten through fifth grade teachers and administrators on evidence-based practices for teaching literacy.

Plans call for the proposed recommendations to be phased in so that all Oregon educator preparation programs are implementing new standards by the fall of the 2026-27 academic year.

Kotek established the Early Literacy Educator Preparation Council through an executive order in May 2023. The council was directed to create recommendations as an advisory body to the governor and the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. Kotek joined the council for its final meeting June 17, to offer gratitude to members for their work over the past year and provide comments on their final recommendations.