School districts across Oklahoma are preparing students to read at grade level as the state moves toward new reading requirements under the Strong Readers Act.
The Strong Readers Act was signed into law earlier this year, but the biggest changes come next year, when testing will determine whether third-graders can read well enough to advance to fourth grade.
Districts aren’t waiting to help students improve their reading skills.
Preparing students for new reading requirements
For Wendi Rutz, teaching has been her life’s work. She has spent 32 years teaching in Union Public Schools.
Her passion and profession center on teaching children to read.
“It’s like a pendulum. Everything that we learn usually comes back. But the kids are the heart of what we’re doing,” said Rutz, a third-grade teacher at Peters Elementary School.
Now, Oklahoma is returning to high-stakes third-grade testing under the Strong Readers Act, which ties students’ advancement to fourth grade to their reading performance.
Teachers like Rutz are doing everything they can to prepare students.
"[I] stay late after school planning on for all these small groups and just giving it the best, the best I can,” Rutz said.
Union Public Schools focuses on early intervention
Small-group instruction is part of Union Public Schools’ plan to improve reading proficiency.
“Well, for Union Public Schools, we did not wait for the law to change last year,” said Sandi Calvin, associate superintendent of teaching and learning for Union Public Schools.
Calvin said the district began making changes in 2023.
“It wasn’t a matter of waiting until third grade; we needed to start young, and we knew that research told us that the younger we get students back on track, the better,” Calvin said.
The district started with first-graders before expanding its efforts to kindergarten, training teachers to help ensure students develop the reading skills they need.
“The responsibility doesn’t fall on one grade level,” Calvin said.
“Sharing our kids because our kids are all of our kids are not just my kids,” Rutz said.
The district is taking a team approach to reading instruction, emphasizing collaboration among teachers.
“So I’ve been teaching this child. They’re not getting it. So let’s see if they can go to another third grade teacher,” Rutz said.
The approach includes targeted small-group interventions and child study teams to identify challenges students may face.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth. I’ve seen a lot of students growing because of all of the hands on deck,” Rutz said.
What’s next under the Strong Readers Act
The new law’s third-grade advancement requirements won’t affect the students currently in Rutz’s classroom, but they are still learning under Union Public Schools’ goal of ensuring all students can read at grade level.
The Strong Readers Act requires students to be screened three times a year and mandates intervention plans to help students who are struggling with reading get back on track.