A bill that supporters hope will improve literacy rates is making its way through Oregon’s legislature.
House Bill 3198 would create three new grant programs to help pay for improved literacy coaching and tutoring, provide new materials, and offer specialized training to educators.
Sarah Pope is the Executive Director of the Oregon chapter of STAND for Children, a nonprofit advocacy group. She said the bill will see schools adopt materials based on what supporters call the “science of reading.”
“It’s decades of research done about how people learn to read, and then what instructional strategies are needed," she said. "We’re really going to turn our attention now to helping secure the funding necessary to support our schools in implementing these strategies.”
In its current form, the bill does not specify the amount of spending on the new programs. The House Education Committee approved it unanimously on Monday. It’s now being considered by the Joint Ways and Means Committee, along with hundreds of other spending proposals.
