Tom Greene is the National Legislative Director for ExcelinEd in Action. In this role, he manages the organization’s advocacy team and works with leaders and lawmakers from across the states to promote student-centered solutions.
The Three-Cueing Systems Model is a flawed literacy instructional practice that teaches students to read based on meaning, structure and syntax, and visual cues—collectively known as “MSV.” While this sounds wonky, it can be boiled down to this: Teachers using this method instruct students to guess. This approach is soundly criticized by many reading experts, because it encourages students to guess, not sound out, words they do not know by using pictures or what they think might make sense given the context of the sentence.
Extensive research has revealed that the practice of three-cueing does more harm than good, yet it persists in many states. It’s found in elementary school classrooms as well as in curriculum used to train up-and-coming teachers.
An EdWeek Research Center survey a few years ago found that 75% of K-2 and elementary special education teachers use the three-cueing method to teach students how to read. The survey also found that 65% of college of education professors were still teaching it.
The science of reading (SoR), on the other hand, is a body of evidence from multiple disciplines that includes strategies for instruction that are tried, scientifically tested and proven to work, as the name suggests. According to reading experts who have successfully improved students’ reading proficiency, the foundational skills taught using SoR are essential for students to become skilled readers and lifelong learners.
The science of reading is a body of research that incorporates insights and research from disciplines that include developmental psychology, educational psychology, cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience. The science of reading has been documented around the world, in all languages and cultures. In short, it tells us how our brains acquire the skill of reading, which is not something we are born with.
The National Reading Panel (NRP) report in 2000 found that explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction in five essential elements is key to children’s reading success. These are phonemic awareness; phonics; vocabulary; fluency; and comprehension. Under the SoR approach, reading is accomplished with letter-by-letter processing of a word.
The outdated Three-Cueing Systems Model, embedded within whole-language and balanced literacy programs, has become a widespread problem as it lacks empirical evidence of its effectiveness.
In fact, neuroscientists have done studies using functional MRI scans that show which parts of the brain light up for not-yet-reading kindergarteners after they have been taught letter-speech sound correspondences. The language centers of students’ brains fail to light up—showing they are stumped—when they do not have those phonetic foundations.
The evidence is overwhelming, and therefore can lead to improved early literacy policies that will better serve students.
Three-cueing has no place in schools, especially when the country is already facing a literacy crisis. Between third and fourth grade, children should no longer be learning to read but instead should be reading to learn. Sadly, 67% of U.S. fourth graders are not proficient in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
In 2021, Arkansas, via SB 349, was the first state to ban three-cueing from reading instruction. Louisiana followed with its three-cueing ban the next year, in 2022, via HB 865.
Leaders in eight states took action during the 2023 legislative session to include an outright ban on three-cueing. Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin all banned the practice and required its elimination from school curricula. Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin also banned it from teacher preparation programs.
To date, 10 states have banned three-cueing in favor of instruction and curriculum aligned with the science of reading. Although just four states have banned three-cueing from teacher preparation programs, we expect many more will follow.
When it comes to answering the question about the best way to teach kids how to read, it’s a phonics-based approach that clearly aligns with the proven principles of the science of reading. A paradigm shift in educational practices is essential to move us away from outdated models and toward methods that empower teachers and students with the tools and resources they need for reading success.
A three-cueing ban is essential, yet it is just one part of an effective, comprehensive early literacy policy for states.
The best comprehensive early literacy policies follow principles that support teachers; prioritize instructional methods and materials aligned with the science of reading; screen students early; notify parents; provide intensive interventions for struggling readers; and give students who are not reading well enough to enter fourth grade more time to grasp foundational reading skills.
As we enter the 2024 legislative session, we encourage state legislators and key education stakeholders to stay engaged in improving early literacy and reading policies. Subscribe to ExcelinEd in Action on social media and to our e-mail list. Our team will be there every step of the way to provide the resources, expertise and support to policymakers as they craft policies to ensure all students can become successful readers.
To read more posts from this series, visit From Policy to Action: A Series Looking Back at 2023 Education Legislation.
