CINCINNATI, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Thursday urging agencies across the state to find ways to improve childhood literacy.
An Ohio Department of Education report points out that 39.9% of all Ohio third-grade students are not considered proficient in reading.
The executive order focuses on transitioning back to phonics and seeing just how prevalent problematic reading methods are across Ohio.
"For years we’ve gone back and forth and debate whats the best way to teach reading," DeWine said. "We just have to have that uniform across the state of Ohio and more children to be able to read. It’s just not right to leave kids behind."
Back in January, DeWine called out in his State of the State address for a renewed focus on literacy, especially on a phonics-based approach.
Watch DeWine's full 2023 State of the State Address below:
A phonics approach involves breaking down a word letter by letter and a student sounding out the word.
Other methods can teach words as a whole, not individual letters, based on taking context clues such as other words in a sentence or pictures as a way to recognize and remember the word.
This shift makes up much of the governor’s $250 million emphasis on education upgrades in the budget.
Literacy support includes:
Early childhood education - $92.2 million in additional support over two years
- Educator professional development - $86 million over two years
- High-quality instructional materials - $64 million over two years
- Literacy coaches - $18 million over two years
- Dyslexia screener - $1.2 million in fiscal year 2025
"There are schools that don’t use the science of reading," DeWine said. "They might say we’ve invested a lot of money in our teachers and our curriculum. What we’re saying is the state will pay for it."
A federally funded study published last year by the University of Delaware called the impact of alternative approaches “significant and negative.”
RELATED: How Northeast Ohio school districts are changing the way students are taught to read
It showed that third and fourth graders had lower test scores if they didn’t utilize phonics as a primary teaching approach.
However, as Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said in previous reporting, some red flags fly up when proposing a mandated approach for Ohio’s nearly 2 million children.
RELATED: Is your child having trouble learning to read? Gov. DeWine pushes for more emphasis on phonics
DiMauro pointed to the failed federal “No Child Left Behind” program and the need for choices when it comes to teaching a wide learning range of students.
"It's not just enough to focus on one piece of the puzzle," he said. "When I talk to our members, I don't know anyone who is 100% pro-phonics or anti-phonics. I don't know of anyone who's 100% pro-balanced literacy or anti-balanced literacy. I think teachers use the strategies that they know work."
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