Adolescent Literacy: Ohio
Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Analysis of Ohio's policies
Informational Texts: Ohio addresses some of the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and
literary texts associated with the state's college- and career-readiness
standards for students through its required Foundations of Reading assessment required of all middle school teachers.
The assessment requires teachers to "understand how to
apply reading comprehension skills and strategies to informational/expository
texts." The framework then offers an extensive list of examples for
achieving this competency.
This assessment is not required of all secondary teachers.
Literacy Skills: Ohio requires middle school candidates to take 12 hours of reading coursework on how to teach reading. However, the requirement
does not ensure that teachers are sufficiently prepared to include literacy
skills across the core content areas.
Secondary candidates are required to take three semester hours "on the teaching of reading in the content area that
includes instruction in organizing instruction, use of protocols for oral
language development, strategies for word skill development, strategies for
reading comprehension, and assessment strategies...."
Recommendations for Ohio
Ensure that middle and secondary school teachers are prepared to meet the instructional requirements of college- and career-readiness standards for students.
Incorporate informational text of increasing complexity into classroom instruction.
Ohio is on the right track by requiring the Foundations of Reading test, which addresses knowledge of informational texts; however, the in-depth coverage of the topic is presented as examples. We encourage Ohio to require this assessment of its secondary teachers as well. The state should also make certain that its framework includes the major instructional shifts of college- and career-readiness standards, thereby ensuring that all middle school candidates have the ability to adequately incorporate complex informational text into classroom instruction.
Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To
ensure that middle school students are capable of accessing varied
information about the world around them, Ohio should also—either through
testing frameworks or teacher standards—include literacy skills and
using text to build content knowledge in history/social studies,
science, technical subjects and the arts.
State response to our analysis
Ohio was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.
Updated: December 2017
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General Teacher Preparation
- Program Entry
- Teacher Shortages and Surpluses
- Program Performance Measures
- Program Reporting Requirements
- Student Teaching/Clinical Practice
- Teaching Methods
Elementary Teacher Preparation
Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Middle School Content Knowledge
- Middle School Licensure Deficiencies
- Adolescent Literacy
- Secondary Content Knowledge
- Secondary Licensure Deficiencies
Special Education Teacher Preparation
Alternate Routes
Hiring
- Requirements for Out-of-State Teachers
- Provisional and Emergency Licensure
- Licensure for Substitute Teachers
- Supporting New Teachers
Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Teacher Compensation
Retaining Effective Teachers
Early Childhood Preparation
How we graded
3C: Adolescent Literary
The state should ensure that all middle and secondary teachers are sufficiently prepared for the ways that college- and career-readiness standards affect instruction in all subject areas. Specifically,
- Middle School Preparation: The state should ensure that all new middle and secondary teachers are prepared to incorporate informational texts of increasing complexity into instruction.
- Secondary Preparation: The state should ensure that all new middle and secondary teachers are prepared to incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if at least one of the two components is "fully addressed" and one is "partially addressed."
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if one of the two components is "fully addressed" or two are "partially addressed."
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if at least one of the two components is "fully addressed" and one is "partially addressed."
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if one of the two components is "fully addressed" or two are "partially addressed."
Research rationale
States must ensure that middle school and secondary teacher preparation programs prepare teachers to incorporate complex text into instruction and student practice. These are critical years of schooling when far too many students fall through the cracks.
With that said, college- and career-readiness standards are influencing significant shifts in literacy instruction.
College- and career-readiness standards for K-12 students adopted by nearly all states require from teachers a different focus on literacy integrated into all subject areas.[1] The standards demand that teachers are prepared to bring complex text and academic language into regular use, emphasize the use of evidence from informational and literary texts, and build knowledge and vocabulary through content-rich texts. While most states have not ignored teachers' need for training and professional development related to these instructional shifts, states must also attend to the parallel need to align teacher competencies and requirements for teacher preparation so that new teachers will enter the classroom ready to help students meet the expectations of these standards.
[1] Student Achievement Partners. (2015). Research supporting the Common Core ELA/literacy shifts and standards. Retrieved from https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Research%20Supporting%20the%20ELA%20Standards%20and%20Shifts%20Final.pdf