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.
Last week, the Alabama State Board of Education announced its intent to adopt a new Administrative Code Section entitled “Literacy Coursework: Science of Reading.” . The proposed change would ban three-cueing in schools and update standards for learning to teach reading in the state’s teacher preparation programs.
Alabama has already adopted 16 strong early literacy policies, including mandating early dyslexia screenings, literacy coaches and interventions and supports for young, struggling readers. This change to Alabama’s administrative code would be another step—a crucial one—in the work to significantly improve early literacy in Alabama.
Based on the latest data, there’s much work to be done.
The percentage of fourth-grade students in Alabama who scored at or above proficient in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was only 28% in 2022. That’s barely an improvement in more than two decades when the percentage was 24%, back in 1998. What do those numbers mean? That more than 7 out of 10 Alabama fourth graders cannot read at grade level.
Without the foundation of strong reading skills, students will face learning hurdles in all other subjects as they advance in school.
Thankfully, Alabama has strong leadership and collaboration in Gov. Kay Ivey, state legislators, Superintendent Eric Mackey and the State Board of Education. Together they have worked hard to put policies in place to prioritize policies that will improve the state’s troubling reading scores.
The new code updates the standards for teaching reading in early childhood education, elementary education and collaborative special education courses at educator preparatory programs and aligns them to the science of reading.
Notably, the code explicitly prohibits the use of the harmful three-cueing system in coursework, materials and instructional strategies in both Alabama educator preparation programs and in K-12 public schools.
Reading experts have soundly criticized three-cueing, which encourages students to guess, not sound out, words they don’t know by using cues, such as pictures or the context of words surrounding the unknown word. The move to ban three-cueing in favor of aligning with research-backed phonemic awareness and phonics is the right one for Alabama educators and students.
If the new code section is fully approved, Alabama would join several other states that also recently banned three-cueing. These include Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
A public comment period is open for 45 days on the Alabama Department of Education website.
If the Alabama State Board of Education gives its final approval of the “Literacy Coursework: Science of Reading” administrative code in March, the new standards would be implemented by August 2024.
Led by Superintendent Mackey, the Alabama State Board of Education deserves recognition for its commitment to student-centered, evidence-based policies.
Establishing standards that align with the science of reading—and clearly defining the necessary knowledge and mastery for teacher candidates prior to entering the classroom—will play a key role in improving reading proficiency for students across Alabama.
