Missouri lawmakers have banned educators from leaning on a model of reading instruction called the “three-cueing” method as part of a bipartisan education package signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The law mandates that three cueing, which teaches students to read using context clues<\/a>, can be used to supplement lessons, but phonics should be the majority of instruction.<\/p>\n State Rep. Ed Lewis, a Moberly Republican and sponsor of the legislation, told The Independent that the law builds on prior legislative efforts and work from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.<\/p>\n “We’ve come to the realization that phonics is crucial,” Lewis said. “The three-cueing system, when used as the primary source, evidence shows a decrease in the amount of learning that occurs, and for that reason, we want to use it less.”<\/p>\n Three cueing is widely criticized for encouraging kids to make guesses when reading and doesn’t show how to sound out words, which is important for understanding complicated texts.<\/p>\n Missouri isn’t the only state to ban three cueing. By the end of 2024, at least 11 states<\/a> had explicitly banned the method.<\/p>\n The problem with three cueing, which once was lauded as an alternative to phonics, came to public attention when American Public Media reporter Emily Hanford investigated reading instruction<\/a> and later launched the podcast series “Sold a Story<\/a>.”<\/p>\n The series armed those backing the “science of reading” in a longstanding war<\/a> between phonics instruction and context-clue-based models and state laws followed \u2014 including a literacy bill<\/a> passed in Missouri in 2022.<\/p>\n