{"id":301011,"date":"2026-07-20T20:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/301011\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T20:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:08:10","slug":"new-york-proposes-science-of-reading-requirements-for-teacher-prep-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/301011\/","title":{"rendered":"New York proposes science of reading requirements for teacher prep programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

New York officials want teacher preparation programs to revamp their instruction to align with the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read. <\/p>\n

Under the proposed regulations<\/a>, many teacher preparation programs \u2014 including those focused on early childhood education, bilingual education, English language learners, literacy, and students with disabilities \u2014 would be required to align their instruction with the state\u2019s science of reading framework.<\/p>\n

The framework emphasizes evidence-based approaches including phonics, the relationship between sounds and letters, as well as phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. <\/p>\n

The proposal, introduced at a state Board of Regents meeting last week, comes as some advocates and experts have raised alarms that roughly half of the state\u2019s teacher preparation programs<\/a> are failing to properly train educators in reading instruction, significantly higher than the national average<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prospective educators would also be expected to devote a portion of their \u201cfield experiences\u201d and student teaching to providing evidence-based literacy instruction and assessing students with reading challenges. The proposed regulations require more explicit training on dyslexia, one of the most common learning disabilities<\/a>, and officials said the proposal is consistent with recommendations from a state dyslexia and dysgraphia task force. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe knowledge base that supports the science of reading is not new,\u201d Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young said during the meeting. \u201cIt is about ensuring that we\u2019re using what we know about how children learn, grow, evolve, and making sure \u2014 by the regulation \u2014 that it exists in every teacher preparation program.\u201d<\/p>\n

If adopted, the proposal would represent one of the most concrete steps so far from state officials to require higher education programs to adopt stronger approaches to training educators to teach reading.<\/p>\n

The proposed changes come as many students are struggling with reading. More than 40% of the state\u2019s fourth graders scored at the lowest level in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress<\/a>, often considered the gold standard in assessment. That was roughly 10 percentage points worse than in 2013. Reading proficiency on state exams has increased over the past few years<\/a>, diverging from the federal test. <\/p>\n

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The proposal is an outgrowth of a multi-state effort New York joined in 2023 to reform teacher preparation programs organized by The Hunt Institute, a nonprofit affiliated with Duke University<\/a>. Officials said the regulations are designed to ensure all teacher preparation programs are consistently teaching evidenced-based literacy practices. If adopted, many teacher prep programs would be required to comply by September 2028.<\/p>\n

Some groups that have been critical of New York\u2019s teacher prep programs said the proposed changes are promising. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be a significant step forward for the state,\u201d said Ron Noble, the chief of teacher prep at the National Council on Teacher Quality, which released the report last month<\/a> that found half of the state\u2019s teacher prep programs did not adequately teach reading. <\/p>\n

Noble praised the idea of beefing up requirements for literacy-focused work in student teaching and other hands-on training experiences. \u201cThat is a great idea,\u201d he said, \u201c one that I haven\u2019t seen in lots of other states.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, several observers and members of the Board of Regents wondered how the Education Department would enforce the requirements, especially because teacher prep programs are reviewed on a seven-year cycle. Some Regents worried the state wouldn\u2019t catch flawed practices for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow will we ensure accountability and follow through?\u201d asked Regent Hasoni Pratts, who represents Brooklyn, during last week\u2019s presentation. \u201cWe won\u2019t know if they\u2019re doing what they say they\u2019re doing until we review in 2035, when I know many of us may not be here.\u201d <\/p>\n

State officials said they can already require corrective action if fewer than 80% of prospective teachers pass certain certification exams. If teacher prep programs don\u2019t align their coursework with the science of reading, state officials will first provide technical assistance. They could eventually be denied \u201creregistration,\u201d a state education spokesperson noted, which would prevent the program from recruiting new students, according to state rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State officials hope the Board of Regents will approve the new rules in November after a public comment period. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83702,2879,83701,22552,22553,83700,469,9,11,10,83699,67036,9107,8413,2585],"class_list":["post-301011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-and-the-schools-principal-yael-leopold","tag-book","tag-chancellor-banks","tag-class","tag-classroom","tag-deputy-chancellor-carolyne-quintana","tag-harlem","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-p-s-125-the-ralph-bunche-school","tag-read","tag-reading","tag-student","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}