The Strong Readers Act: Going All In on the Science of Reading for Oklahoma Students

Oklahoma educators know empowering students to read, write, speak, and listen effectively will launch them toward success in school and life.

To support this, Sooner state lawmakers this year enacted the Strong Readers Act, legislation aimed at going all in on making the science of reading the only instructional approach to teach students to read in the state’s elementary classrooms.

Previously called the Reading Sufficiency Act, the Strong Readers legislation increases teacher professional learning, enhances student assessment screenings, and most notably bans the use of three-cueing instructional practices starting in 2025–2026. Oklahoma lawmakers joined leaders in 10 states stepping away from the discredited approach of teaching students to read based on meaning, structure, visual, balanced literacy, and whole language approaches.
State Rep. Rhonda Baker, who proposed the legislation with state Sen. Adam Pugh, defended the ban on three-cueing by saying it relied too heavily on visual cues and visualization.
“A child wasn’t really getting the reading knowledge when they could just look at the picture to try and figure out the word,” she said. 

Aside from this historic instructional shift, the heart of the Strong Readers Act is aimed at ensuring Oklahoma students progress from one grade to another, in part, determined by reading proficiency.
To achieve this and equip educators with effective evidence-based, science of reading solutions, officials at the Oklahoma State Department of Education have recommended two Voyager Sopris Learning^® interventions that meet the new legislation’s mandatory requirements,Voyager Passport^® and Sound Partners.
Voyager Passport, a research-proven solution for K–5 students, uses a blended, teacher-led format so students receive explicit, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. For two decades, Voyager Passport has helped elementary students master critical reading skills through its evidence-based approach and embedded assessment.
Sound Partners is a research-based, supplementary tutoring solution designed to enhance early reading skills for students learning to read in grades K–1 and provides intervention for students in grades 2–3. It emphasizes phonemic and alphabetic skills, phonemic decoding skills, and assisted reading practice with decodable texts. Sound Partners also includes high-dosage literacy tutoring for paraprofessionals to apply direct, explicit instruction with students learning to read.

See for yourself how Voyager Passport and Sound Partners are empowering educators to promote strong readers in classrooms across the country.