Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-1210.508F: Reading competencies for special education teachers

— Training requirements.

A. The Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability

shall ensure that the reading competencies for elementary teachers

are included in the competencies for special education teachers.

B. The Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability in

collaboration with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

shall ensure that all teachers and adjuncts of early childhood

education, elementary education, and special education are provided

quality training in intervention, instruction, and remediation

strategies in the science of reading to provide explicit and

systematic instruction in phonological awareness, decoding, fluency,

vocabulary, and comprehension and implement reading strategies that

research has shown to be successful in improving reading among

students with reading difficulties. In addition, quality education

for prospective teachers shall be provided in research-based

instructional strategies for instruction, assessment, and

intervention for literacy development for all students including

advanced readers, typically developing readers, and struggling

readers who are coping with a range of challenges including, but not

limited to, English learners and learners with handicapping

conditions and learning disabilities, including dyslexia. Quality

training shall include guidance from professional resources such as

the Report of the National Reading Panel, Response to Intervention

guidelines, and professional organizations such as the Council for

Exceptional Children, International Dyslexia Association,

International Literacy Association, National Council of Teachers of

English, and National Association for the Education of Young

Children.

C. All institutions within The Oklahoma State System of Higher

Education that offer elementary, early childhood education, or

special education programs approved by the Commission for

Educational Quality and Accountability shall incorporate into those

programs the requirement that teacher candidates study the five

elements of reading instruction which are phonological awareness,

decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Teacher

candidates shall study strategies including, but not limited to,

instruction that is explicitly taught, sequenced, multimodal

(reading, writing, speaking, listening, hands-on, etc.),

multidisciplinary, and reflective to adapt for individual learners.

D. Effective July 1, 2025, any person seeking initial

certification in a special education, early childhood education, or

elementary education program in this state shall be required to

successfully complete a comprehensive reading instruction assessment

approved by the Commission for Educational Quality and

Accountability as a condition for certification. The assessment

shall evaluate the certification applicant’s knowledge and

understanding of the five elements of reading instruction which are

phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and

comprehension.

E. Candidates applying for adjunct positions, an alternative

placement teaching certificate, or an emergency teaching certificate

in elementary education shall complete instruction in the science of

reading as determined by the Commission for Educational Quality and

Accountability and the State Board of Education.