Oklahoma grows statewide team of reading coaches as new literacy laws take effect

The larger team will visit fewer schools than before, but educators at each served site will get more comprehensive coaching, said Melissa Ahlgrim, the Education Department’s program director of literacy policy and programs.

“It’s 120 schools that will receive more support than just a quick fly-by,” she said. “It’s a slightly reduced number of schools, but it is a more intensive kind of support.”

Last year’s smaller group of 14 coaches visited 150 schools in 2025-26. Team members were assigned 12 to 15 schools each, so they could reach each site only a few times a month, Ahlgrim said. That left time for consulting but not in-depth coaching.

Oklahoma’s updated Strong Readers Act made the HEROES team a permanent program at the Education Department and raised its minimum number of coaches to 20. 

The law instructs the team to serve six geographic regions in the state and to prioritize schools that score the lowest on either annual state English language arts tests or on a statewide reading screener. 

The Legislature also forbade districts from refusing the team’s help or else risk losing Strong Readers Act funds. Previously, the team worked with schools on a voluntary basis.

Each of the 24 coaches will be assigned up to five schools at a time to visit multiple days a week, Ahlgrim said. They’ll join teachers in their classrooms and explain practical ways to improve their teaching methods for reading.

“When a teacher gets into their classroom, because they have so many things going on, it’s really hard to implement something new, and so that’s where coaching comes in,” Ahlgrim said. “It says, ‘Let me walk you through step by step. Let me model this for you. Let me help watch you do it and help guide you along the way.’”

A school must demonstrate sustainable growth in student reading scores for the team to start drawing back its involvement, Ahlgrim said.

School districts will spend the year implementing new legal requirements for small-group instruction, teacher training and progress monitoring of struggling readers. An even bigger change will come in 2027-28, when third graders will be held back a year if they score below a basic reading level on state tests and fail a second literacy assessment.

Lawmakers also required every district to employ or contract with a reading specialist, establishing summer training academies for teachers who wanted to earn this designation. 

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said these academies are an essential piece of the law because the Education Department “can’t employ enough coaches to go to every school district in the state.” 

Instead, teachers from Oklahoma’s 540 districts could participate in the summer academies to train in the science of reading, earn a $3,000 stipend and return to their schools to help their fellow educators.

“Ultimately, we pass laws as the Legislature, but it’s the teachers, it’s the parents, it’s the principals, it’s the reading specialists who are really the ones implementing this and will make it become a reality,” Hilbert said. “I’m just excited to see what this is going to mean for our kids and our students as the school year starts.”

The HEROES team organized summer literacy workshops, as well, across the state for teacher professional development. The team also offers six- to eight-week online courses during the school year to 150 teachers on best practices for reading instruction, Ahlgrim said.

The Education Department had to quickly add to the team over the summer to comply with the new legislation. 

One hundred candidates applied for the open positions, Ahlgrim said, and all coaches and regional leads were fully staffed by July 4. But, a few recent departures have left three coaching positions open as the school year begins.

A coach’s base salary is $68,200, and each of the six regional leads earns $72,200, she said.

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