Improving Literacy in Ohio

Ohio’s commitment to ensure equitable opportunities to learn for each child in the state – as detailed in  Each Child, Our Future (Ohio’s Strategic Plan for Education 2019-2024) – is reflected in the state’s extensive work in the area of literacy. Through various coordinated initiatives, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is building the capacity at the local, regional, and state level to improve the quality of the language and literacy instruction provided to each child, including struggling readers and those with disabilities and learning difficulties.

Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement, first released in 2018 and currently under revision, serves as the framework and guidepost for implementation of multiple efforts designed to increase teacher knowledge and application of the foundational skills of reading; prepare and support teachers, related services personnel, principals, and others to implement evidence-based literacy practices consistently and coherently across systems; and teach all children to read well. These efforts are supported through multiple funding sources and/or initiatives, among them Ohio’s Early Literacy Pilot, Ohio’s State Personnel Development Grant, Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy and Comprehensive Literacy State Development Subgrants, and Ohio’s Dyslexia Pilot Project.