The presidents of both the Ohio Education Association and Ohio Federation of Teachers praised DeWine for making literacy a priority in a new state budget bill. But both object to DeWine’s attempt in that same bill to make Ohio one of the first states to ban teachers using “cueing” — having young students figure out what a word is through context or pictures — in reading lessons. 

That strategy is a large part of long-used teaching approaches like whole language or balanced literacy.

“I would strongly, strongly urge the house to consider removal of language that explicitly bans any particular instructional practices,” OEA President Scott DiMauro told an Ohio House subcommittee considering DeWine’s plan last week.

DiMaruo said if the state offers training and teaching materials for science of reading, “there’s no need for the heavy hand of the state government to single out any specific instructional practices.”

OFT President Melissa Cropper said limiting teachers to one approach would take away other methods that may work best for some students.

“Banning certain methods opens the door to politically-charged attacks that can limit a teacher’s ability to choose the most appropriate method for meeting a student’s needs,” she told the subcommittee.

But DeWine, acting state education superintendent Stephanie Siddens and legislative leaders in the state’s Republican majority, which has often dismissed union concerns, are not deviating from DeWine’s plan to join Arkansas and Louisiana in banning cueing in favor of phonics-based lessons. Teachers still hope ongoing discussions with DeWine and his staff can help shape the final bill.

DeWine has been promoting science of reading at events in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, including a discussion Thursday in which former Mississippi state Superintendent Carey Wright came to Columbus to tell how changing to science of reading approaches helped students there leap from 49th in 4th grade reading nationally in 2013 to 22nd in 2022 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Siddens called three-cueing “counter-productive” for students after that event, in which Wright and others dismissed that approach as having children “guess” at words.

“You can’t guess your way into reading,” Wright said. “You have to be taught explicitly how to read.”

DeWine, when told after that meeting that teachers had called his plan too limiting, disagreed: “The science of reading is not one size fits all.” 

“Look at what the state of Mississippi did,” he said. “They did it, frankly, by being very strong in regard to the science of reading. So the evidence is just … there.”

Andrew Brenner, the Republican chairman of Ohio’s Senate Education Committee, said he sees such strong support for DeWine’s plan he sees less need to file a separate bill to require phonics to be taught.

“We believe that the governor’s plan will get through the budget mostly intact,” he said.

He dismissed teachers’ objections about banning cueing, asking if teachers prefer the low reading scores of many third graders on state tests, which DeWine has cited as a reason for his push.

Cropper said blaming any teaching approach for low scores “is an unsafe assumption.”

“There has been no analysis done on which districts are using which teaching methods or curriculum,” she said. “Many other factors contribute to students’ academic success including their socioeconomic status.”

More than half of all states have passed laws encouraging or incorporating science of reading in classrooms, as the so-called “reading wars” have ramped up over the last 10 years. Ohio has made science of reading part of the state’s recommended literacy improvement strategy since 2018, but has not required schools to use it.

DeWine’s proposed ban would go much further. Similar legislation has been filed in Indiana (SB 402), New Hampshire (HB 437), Florida (SB 758), West Virginia (SB 274), and Texas (HB 2162) with experts expecting more soon in Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Mississippi, however, did not have such a ban to achieve the results DeWine praised. After DeWine and Carey spoke at the same event last week, the OFT’s Cropper asked Carey from the audience if Mississippi needed a ban or just focused on promoting and teaching science of reading.

Carey said there was no such ban, but the state continually told schools and teachers to avoid cueing and that teachers were often glad to be trained in science of reading methods, for which they received continuing education credits.

Both Cropper and DiMauro testified they would prefer promoting science of reading over any bans or mandating training for all teachers as DeWine wants. They praised DeWine for setting aside money in the budget for training, stipends for teachers doing the training, and for books and other curriculum materials for districts wanting to change.

But they raised concerns over DeWine’s aim to have the entire state change by the fall of 2024 and forcing even high school science and math teachers to do training. They noted that the state department of education doesn’t have a training plan yet, doesn’t know how long such training would need to be, how many teachers already have strong science of reading training and how well state teacher training programs are teaching it.

“We ask that all of you seriously look at, not just what does it take to implement or impose some state level mandates in terms of literacy instruction, but to truly get buy-in and meaningful implementation of that program,” DiMauro said. “We know there are many unanswered questions right now.”

Currently, state law allows districts to teach reading however they want. Under his proposed bill, Gov. Mike DeWine would force them to pick only phonics-based Science of Reading materials from a list the Ohio Department of Education will create. 

Dewine has also asked the state legislature to ban use of any “three cueing” materials or lessons — an approach considered the foundation of popular teaching methods known as Whole Language, Balanced Literacy or, particularly in Ohio, Reading Recovery. 

“The jury has returned,” DeWine, a Republican, said in his State of the State speech late last month where he led off his address with the importance of the Science of Reading. “The evidence is clear. The verdict is in.”

“There is a great deal of research about how we learn to read,” he said. “And today, we understand the great value and importance of phonics. Not all literacy curriculums are created equal, and sadly, many Ohio students do not have access to the most effective reading curriculum.”

DeWine is seeking $129 million from the legislature to retrain teachers and replace elementary school textbooks. 

With hearings on the bill just beginning, it’s still unclear whether DeWine’s ban, which other states are also considering, will win support. 

While DeWine’s plan to back the Science of Reading won strong applause at his speech and praise from some Republicans, there has been no debate yet on his ban, which only became public when bill language was released a week ago. And one of the state’s teachers unions has raised concerns about mandating a single approach to teaching reading.

There could also be logistical issues to such a dramatic shift going into effect in less than 19 months. 

How many Ohio schools or teachers will need to change how reading is taught remains unclear: The state does not track how many teachers are trained in the Science of Reading or how many elementary schools are using it to teach children. The state education department could only say that “many” teachers are not trained in the Science of Reading. 

Additionally, the state’s Department of Higher Education said  it does not know which reading methods colleges and universities are training prospective teachers in.

DeWine’s ban also puts Ohio State University’s Reading Recovery, a widely used reading intervention program based on three-cueing, in his crosshairs. Officials of the program did not respond to requests for comment.

The so-called “Reading Wars” of the last decade have pitched supporters of phonics against those who back related methods like whole language and balanced literacy in which students are taught to guess words they don’t know from cues such as context, pictures or letters.

As studies in support of phonics and other Science of Reading concepts have mounted, even ardent champions of other methods like Lucy Calkins of Columbia University’s Teachers College have backed down and started incorporating more phonics into their books and lessons.

In the last 10 years, more than half of all states have passed laws encouraging or incorporating Science of Reading in classrooms. Ohio has moved in that direction in recent years, making Science of Reading part of the state’s recommended literacy improvement strategy, but not requiring schools to use it.

Only a few states have gone as far as DeWine proposes, including Arkansas and Louisiana, which have already banned schools from using any of the methods based on three-cueing. 

But officials in eight other states are joining Ohio in seeking similar bans, according to Tom Greene, national legislative director for ExcelinEd in Action, the education advocacy group created by former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. 

Legislation has been filed in Indiana (SB 402), New Hampshire (HB 437), Florida (SB 758), West Virginia (SB 274), and Texas (HB 2162) with bills expected soon in Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina outlawing three-cueing, he said.

“Eliminating three cueing is a strong step in the right direction to ensure all kids are proficient readers by the end of the third grade,” Greene said. “These state leaders are looking at the research, hearing personal stories of struggling readers and listening to the concerns of teachers about the harmful effects of this approach.”

But Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, one of two teachers unions in the state, has already said educators shouldn’t be limited in how they teach reading. 

DiMauro said last week — before the full scope of DeWine’s plan was made public — that all teachers use phonics as part of their lessons, but they are “just one piece of a larger puzzle” when it comes to teaching reading, and that a “one size fits all” solution was not a good move. 

 “As far as saying approach x versus approach y, as a prescribed reading plan, we don’t don’t think it’s appropriate,” DiMauro said. 

Ohio State Senate education committee chair Andrew Brenner, who plans his own bill to require phonics, predicted the change would not only affect elementary schools, but also the state’s universities and teacher training programs. 

DeWine’s plan sets aside $43 million in each of the next two years for the Ohio Department of Education to create training in the Science of Reading for any teacher who hasn’t had it, run training sessions and pay teachers a stipend for attending.

DeWine’s plan is built into his proposed two-year state budget. Though the budget bill won’t likely be passed until just before the end of June, portions of it could be split off for a vote sooner as part of Brenner’s bill or others.