What Ohio Reading Plans & Legislation Mean for Districts & Schools Moving Forward

The Ohio reading plan passed by lawmakers in the Buckeye state is packed with bold reforms that are reshaping reading instruction in schools and districts from Akron to Youngstown and everywhere in between.

With 1.6 million public school students and more than 600 public school districts, shifting how kids are taught to read across the entire State of Ohio is no simple feat, and adding to the complexity is a sea of programs, initiatives, projects, and mandates that are all centered around literacy.

What does ReadOhio entail? What about Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement, Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee and Dyslexia Support Law? How are all these plans tied to the Science of Reading?

We’ve broken down each program for you and created a list of helpful resources for Ohio districts and school leaders and teachers.

Read on for an explanation of the various Ohio reading plans that districts must comply with, plus a look at specific requirements for Ohio schools, and the latest reading achievement scores for Ohio students.

Ohio Reading Scores

To understand why Ohio’s lawmakers have cast their eyes on literacy education, it’s best to start with the state’s 2022 NAEP testing scores.

Short for National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP testing is often referred to as the “nation’s report card” because the biannual assessment tests a wide sample of students across the United States, providing a broad overview of educational achievement.

NAEP scores from 2022 show just 35 percent of Ohio 4th graders are proficient readers, and the number was even lower for 8th graders at just 33 percent. When you dive deeper into the data, you find large achievement gaps between Ohio students from marginalized and disenfranchised groups as compared to their peers:

• Ohio’s Black 4th graders had an average score that was 35 points lower than that of white students.
• The average scores earned by Hispanic students were 30 points lower than their white classmates.
• Ohio students who were eligible for the National School Lunch Program had an average NAEP reading score that was 32 points lower than that for students who were not eligible.
• Nearly two-thirds of Ohio’s 4th graders are unable to read proficiently.

Ohio Governor’s Literacy Challenge

Citing the NAEP scores, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine unveiled his Governor’s Literacy Challenge in March 2023 with an eye on supporting literacy achievement for all students. 

“Ohio’s ultimate goal is that every student become a proficient reader, meaning reading at or above grade level.”

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in his executive order
to announce the Governor’s Literacy Challenge

DeWine’s Literacy Challenge also laid out four steps for the state to help achieve the goal:

1. Develop a state program to recognize schools that are a) demonstrating strong implementation of best instructional practices aligned to the Science of Reading and b) where students are making significant progress in reading.
2. Collaborate with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ohio to form recommendations for ongoing public-private partnerships aimed at encouraging reading.
3. Establish strategies for increasing parental and family involvement in teaching and encouraging reading.
4. Create a strategy with measurable goals for improving reading.

ReadOhio — The New Ohio Reading Plan

Just months after it was announced, the DeWine’s challenge morphed into ReadOhio, a literacy initiative DeWine launched in August 2023 after securing bipartisan support in the state’s legislature in July to mandate that school districts shift literacy instruction to the Science of Reading.

ReadOhio requirements for districts include:

• Teach students using curriculum and instructional materials that align with the Science of Reading and appear on a state-approved list.
• Ensure all teachers and administrators undergo professional development in the Science of Reading, completing a course provided by the Department of Education and Workforce no later than June 30, 2025.
• Implement evidence-based reading intervention programs.
• Change all reading assessments to tools that are evidence-based and appear on a state-approved assessment list.
• Provide high-dosage tutoring for all students in kindergarten through 4th grade on reading improvement and monitoring plans.

Schools are also now banned from using any core curriculum, instructional materials, or intervention programs that make use of the three-cueing method — a strategy that has been widely debunked by scientists — to teach reading in kindergarten through 5th grade.

In its 2023 budget, the state legislature included a two-year budget allocation to help districts make the changes, including:

• $86 million for educator professional development
• $64 million for curriculum and instructional materials
• $18 million for literacy coaches

In addition to the mandate from the original Governor’s Literacy Challenge, ReadOhio now encompasses a number of different literacy-focused programs and initiatives. Some of those programs started under Ohio’s 2012 Striving Readers State Literacy Plan: Reading into the Future which first established a literacy development framework for the state.

Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee

One of the programs that initially fell under the Striving Readers Literacy Plan is Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a program introduced in 2013 by then Governor John Kasich. The guarantee tied 3rd graders’ promotion to 4th grade to their reading score on a standardized state test and required schools to provide intensive interventions to help retained students catch up with their peers. 

Ohio Department of Education data shows nearly 40,000 3rd graders were held back due to their reading scores from 2013 to 2019. This program is not without controversy – a study of the Ohio Guarantee completed in 2018 by Ohio State University researchers showed “no clear pattern” of improvement due to mandatory retention. The state suspended mandatory retention from 2019 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Guarantee was brought back in 2023 and now falls under ReadOhio. 

Although it’s similar to the 2013 plan, there are some key differences that are now in effect for districts and schools in the state:

• Ohio parents are now allowed to decide if their 3rd grader should be retained or move on to 4th grade, regardless of their reading performance.
• Districts and schools must now administer reading diagnostics that are aligned with the Science of Reading and come from the state-approved list or use the state-developed diagnostic.
• All districts and community schools must create a Reading and Improvement Plan (RIMP) for any student in grades K-3 who is reading below grade level within 60 days of receiving the reading diagnostic results.
• As of the 24-25 school year, schools must supply at least 50 hours of high-dosage tutoring over 36 weeks to close decoding gaps for every student with a RIMP.

Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement

Another program that now falls under the ReadOhio umbrella is Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement, which was first created in January 2018 and updated in 2019 with the help of a State Literacy Team. The plan called for the State of Ohio and individual schools to make a series of changes, including:

• Focusing on differentiated core instruction and a multi-tiered system of supports that aligns to the Science of Reading
• Ensuring 3rd graders retained under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee receive interventions grounded in scientific evidence to ensure progress toward proficient reading
• Integrating Ohio’s K-12 Social and Emotional Learning Standards into literacy instruction
• Promoting collaboration among educators, such as content area teachers and intervention specialists
• Developing goals and strategies for supporting families in their critical roles in children’s literacy development

While this plan established a push toward the Science of Reading, at the time, the state did not require schools to make the changes to evidence-based instruction, nor did it require a change in how teachers themselves are trained. Now, under ReadOhio, schools must choose curricula from a pre-approved state list.

Ohio’s Dyslexia Support Laws

Ohio passed legislation in 2021 that guarantees support for students with dyslexia, then followed up on their initial dyslexia support law with additional requirements in 2023 that fall beneath the state’s overall reading plans.

1. Districts are required to screen all students for dyslexia between the second half of a student’s kindergarten year and the first half of 1st grade.
2. Districts must use a screening tool from the state’s approved list of assessments.
3. K-3 teachers and special education teachers across all grade levels must now meet specific dyslexia professional development requirements.

Helpful Links for Ohio Educators

For District and School Leaders

• State of Ohio Approved High-Dosage Tutoring Vendors
• Ohio’s Approved List of Core Curriculum and Instructional Materials
• State-Approved Assessments and Screening Tools
• Ohio House Bill 583 — The bill that includes ReadOhio mandates

For Teachers

• The ReadOhio Literacy Academy
• Ohio’s Dyslexia Support Law Professional Development Requirements
• State Learning Standards for English Language Arts

Want to learn more about successfully teaching kids to read? Download our free guide to creating a district-wide literacy ecosystem that’s rooted in evidence-based practices. 

About Ignite Reading

Ignite Reading delivers 1:1 online tutoring to students who need extra support in learning to read. Our expert tutors teach students the foundational skills they need to become confident, fluent readers by the end of 1st grade.

With a team of literacy specialists and highly trained tutors, we provide daily, targeted instruction that quickly closes decoding gaps, so students can successfully make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn.