Oklahoma schools to pilot privately-funded literacy coach program

OKLAHOMA CITY — About $1.5 million in private donations are being used to train literacy coaches in 10 locations across Oklahoma as part of an effort to improve students’ reading proficiency, officials announced Tuesday. 

The State Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday unveiled a plan, named the Oklahoma Literacy Initiative, which supporters said will boost the reading levels of children enrolled in seven traditional districts, two charter schools and one neighborhood school. 

The announcement comes as educators begin preparing to implement the Strong Readers Act, which beginning in the 2027-28 school year, requires third graders to be held back if they score below a basic grade level in reading. The legislation, which the State Chamber backed, also requires more literacy coaches.

Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber, said private investment is the “part that was missing” for Oklahoma to see results like in Mississippi. 

Oklahoma leaders have said they want to replicate the success of Mississippi’s education reforms as that state dramatically rose in national rankings over a decade with similar reading legislation and long-term investments. Mississippi’s success is credited in large part to a $100 million private donation.

“One, (Mississippi) passed the legislation, which we’ve done,” Warmington said. “And then two, they had a philanthropic effort that ran alongside of it, and frankly, got out front of what Mississippi is doing. It was doing the same thing, but it was able to do it quicker.”

While lawmakers this year allocated $5 million to expand the number of literacy coaches at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the State Chamber’s private initiative will train hand-picked reading coaches from within districts. 

About $1.5 million in private funding has been provided by the Walton Family Foundation, the Choctaw Nation and the California-based Emerson Collective, said Jake Yunker, executive director of the State Chamber Research Foundation. 

There were between 20 and 25 applicants for the pilot program. 

Seven full public school districts were selected, including Ardmore, Beaver, Burns Flat-Dill City, Maysville, McAlester, Meeker and Valliant Public School. Hamilton Elementary and Unity Learning Academy, a neighborhood school, both in the Tulsa Public Schools system, were also selected. 

The Academy of Okmulgee and the W.K. Jackson Leadership Academy in Oklahoma City, both charter schools, will also participate. 

Yunker said they hope to expand the program to more districts next year, pending funding availability. 

The pilot group of literacy coaches from each district started their training in July. 

Kelly Hampton is one of those coaches and said the trainings focused on the “science of reading” and how to coach or encourage teachers to strengthen literacy instruction with their current curriculum. 

The program will change how teachers look at the curriculum and examine if it teaches what it needs to, she said. 

Hampton’s focus will be working with kindergarten through second grade students and teachers at McAlester schools. She said this program is a “blessing” for students and the community. 

“It feels like it’s a new way of thinking as far as the science of reading, even though it’s been around for 50 years,” Hampton said. “It’s something that there’s been a bigger push for it in recent years to look at. And everybody’s background with it is different, but it’s been very eye-opening, and I think they’re all very excited to learn what is going to be.