Oklahoma students head back to school with focus on literacy

District leaders are pouring over students’ literacy data as state laws now require extra help for low-scoring readers. Some schools have increased class time spent on reading instruction, knowing the gravity third-grade reading tests will have in the near future.

State leaders enacted more rigorous reading laws this year in hopes of emulating Mississippi, which progressively rose in national academic rankings after implementing similar regulations. 

Mississippi, though, retained only 6% of its third graders in the 2024-25 school year, according to the most recent data available. The Magnolia State held back 8% of its third graders, or 3,000 students, in its first year of retentions in 2014-15.

The fact that Oklahoma could have significantly more students at risk of retention indicates that “our state tests are not the same” as Mississippi’s, said Chris Brewster, superintendent of Santa Fe South Charter Schools. That’s a signal Oklahoma might have more work to do on its methods of assessing students, he said.

“There are certain schools where the vast majority of all of their third graders, historically speaking, haven’t met that standard,” Brewster said of the potential statewide impact. “I don’t know if that’s the intent of the law, but it seems very punitive to children and not really a way to progress the work.”

Brewster, though, said he’s not at all against holding schools accountable for ensuring all children learn to read. His charter district, based in south Oklahoma City, had 46% of its third graders score below basic in reading in 2026, but he said he’s optimistic about future growth.

How are schools accelerating learning?

This past spring, 66% of Santa Fe South’s first graders, who will be among the initial third graders to take the high-stakes literacy test, scored at or above their grade level in reading on districtwide benchmark assessments. 

That’s the result of six years of steady improvement since spring 2020, when 34% of the district’s first graders performed near or above their grade level, Santa Fe South leaders said. Rather than making significant changes this year, they plan to continue with the methods behind that success.

Santa Fe South students, many of whom come from low-income and non-English-speaking homes, take a mix of assessments that test specific reading skills. 

Once students’ weak points are identified, they begin a three-week cycle of daily small-group instruction focused on the skills that need improvement, said Missy Stotler, Santa Fe South’s content and curriculum coordinator for early childhood. That’s in addition to daily class time dedicated to literacy.

“It’s the idea of short bursts of intense, very focused work with a group of kids, and then quickly assessing, ‘Did they move the needle? Where are the needs now?’ And then, quickly putting them back into new groups that meet their new need of learning,” Stotler said.

Key pieces of reading law still undefined

Still, “there’s a lot of question marks” for schools about the new reading laws, said Meg Wheeler, executive director of elementary education at Santa Fe South. Right now, the number of students scoring below basic is one of the only clear indicators school leaders have of how many of their students might face retention, she said.

Under the new law, students would have to score below basic on state reading tests and fail a second literacy assessment to be held back in third grade, unless they meet limited criteria for an exemption. State officials haven’t decided yet what that second test will be. 

Also, all districts will have to implement the same reading screener to check students’ literacy levels and determine how much intervention each child needs. The universal screener hasn’t been chosen yet, either.

“For schools who have not previously used that screener — (it) could be us, we don’t know — we won’t have any historical data to pull from,” Wheeler said. “We don’t get very much information (from state tests) about why a student is scoring at below basic at the third grade level, and we don’t know that we’re going to have any historical data from the screening assessments to help us understand what is happening with a student. 

“So, there’s a lot of blindness in the data that I think we have some fear of right now.”

Districts prepare for high-stakes testing

The question in Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Josh Delich’s mind, he said, is how training and staffing can support the literacy initiative — and whether the state will help with the cost of educators’ professional development.

The state already began rolling out teacher academies for educators who want to earn a reading specialist credential. The state Department of Education’s team of literacy coaches also offered summer workshops.

Edmond schools continue to focus on building teachers’ capacity for literacy instruction, Delich said. A major emphasis has been the quality of general classroom reading lessons, which are provided to all students in a class regardless of their performance level.

Thirty percent of Edmond third graders scored below basic in reading, according to 2025-26 state test results.

“What is that first level of teaching and learning instruction that students receive in the classroom, and how do you support that?” And then through that, you look at how do you spiral in learning objectives that students may struggle with. How do you reteach areas and content in which students are struggling?” Delich said. “We want to make sure we’re moving every single student through individual growth.”

Oklahoma City Public Schools found reason for optimism during the 2025-26 school year when nearly a quarter of its first graders demonstrated a year’s worth of reading growth after only the fall semester. Adding a second reading curriculum on top of the district’s original lesson plans helped accelerate learning, administrators said.

But, “there are many students who would fall in that retention window,” said Jason Galloway, the district’s chief of academics.

Sixty-six percent of third graders in the district scored below basic, according to state test results.

So, Oklahoma City schools made further changes following the new reading law.

Daily reading instruction time has increased to 150 minutes in many elementary schools from the previous standard of 90 to 120 minutes, said Alisha Suffield, Oklahoma City’s chief of schools.

The district also added more reading interventionists, paraprofessionals and teaching aides to work with students in small groups, Suffield said. All kindergarten and first grade classes will be staffed with a certified teacher rather than someone holding an emergency certification, who might not have traditional classroom training.

“Emergency certified teachers have a very valuable place in our system, but we don’t want them to be placed in those early primary reading years of kinder and first grade,” she said. “So (we’re) just trying to protect those reading spaces and ensure that our kids get the strongest start possible with a certified staff person.”

Reporter Emma Murphy contributed to this report.

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