Oregon has a student literacy crisis. Is teaching future teachers the way out?

Dorothy Valentine, a teacher in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, enrolled in Portland State University's Read Oregon program to earn a reading specialist credential, but was frustrated to find that coursework considered what she thought were discredited methodologies on reading instruction. She switched to Eastern Oregon University, and the Read Oregon program is now on pause. Educator preparation programs around the state are evaluating their course offerings in the wake of recommendations from a panel convened by Gov. Tina Kotek that seeks to have university-level instruction aligned with the principles of the science of reading. (ALLISON BARR/The Oregonian

As Gov. Tina Kotek seeks her second term in office, she has staked a hefty part of her educational legacy on ensuring that Oregon schools help many more of the state’s youngest students learn to read with ease and fluency.

Oregon’s bottom-of-the-barrel literacy rankings prompted the governor in 2023 to form a panel tasked with reforming how the state’s colleges and universities prepare future teachers, special educators, reading specialists and administrators. The idea is…

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