OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Department of Education's HEROES Literacy Instructional Team has grown to 24 reading coaches and six regional supervisors. State lawmakers converted the HEROES team from a pilot program to a permanent fixture.

Oklahoma's updated Strong Readers Act made the HEROES team a permanent program at the Education Department. The HEROES team will work with 120 elementary schools over the coming academic year.

"It's a slightly reduced number of schools, but it is a more intensive kind of support," Melissa Ahlgrim said. "It's 120 schools that will receive more support than just a quick fly-by," she said.

A group of 14 coaches visited 150 schools in the 2025-26 academic year. Previously, team members were assigned 12 to 15 schools each and could reach each site only a few times a month.

Each of the 24 coaches will be assigned up to five schools at a time to visit multiple days a week. Coaches will join teachers in their classrooms and explain practical ways to improve their teaching methods for reading.

"When a teacher gets into their classroom, because they have so many things going on, it's really hard to implement something new, and so that's where coaching comes in," Ahlgrim said. "It says, 'Let me walk you through step by step. Let me model this for you. Let me help watch you do it and help guide you along the way,'" she said.

The Strong Readers Act raised the minimum number of coaches to 20. The Strong Readers Act instructs the team to serve six geographic regions in the state.

The Strong Readers Act instructs the team to prioritize schools that score the lowest on either annual state English language arts tests or on a statewide reading screener. The Legislature forbade districts from refusing the team's help under penalty of losing Strong Readers Act funds.

Previously, the team worked with schools on a voluntary basis. A school must demonstrate sustainable growth in student reading scores for the team to start drawing back its involvement.

School districts will spend the year implementing new legal requirements for small-group instruction, teacher training and progress monitoring of struggling readers. In the 2027-28 academic year, third graders will be held back a year if they score below a basic reading level on state tests and fail a second literacy assessment.

Lawmakers required every district to employ or contract with a reading specialist. Lawmakers established summer training academies for teachers who wanted to earn the reading specialist designation.

Teachers from Oklahoma's 540 districts could participate in the summer academies to train in the science of reading. Teachers participating in the summer academies can earn a $3,000 stipend.

The HEROES team organized summer literacy workshops across the state for teacher professional development. The HEROES team offers six- to eight-week online courses during the school year to 150 teachers on best practices for reading instruction.

One hundred candidates applied for the open coaching positions. All coaches and regional leads were fully staffed by July 4.

Three coaching positions are open as the school year begins due to recent departures. A coach's base salary is $68,200.

"Ultimately, we pass laws as the Legislature, but it's the teachers, it's the parents, it's the principals, it's the reading specialists who are really the ones implementing this and will make it become a reality," House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said. "I'm just excited to see what this is going to mean for our kids and our students as the school year starts," he said.

The Oklahoma Legislature passed 70 O.S. § 1210.508H in 2023, which established a three-year pilot program to employ a literacy instructional team to support school districts in implementing the requirements of the Reading Sufficiency Act, now known as the Strong Readers Act. The Senate Education Committee is slated to take up SB 1338 on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 535, a bill that would make the Strong Readers Act’s literacy instructional team a permanent, statewide support for schools rather than a three-year pilot.

Why It Matters

By converting the HEROES team from a voluntary pilot to a permanent mandate, state law now requires districts to accept intensive coaching or lose funding. This shift reduces the number of schools served but increases visit frequency, aiming to secure sustainable reading score growth before third-grade retention rules take effect in 2027-28. The change prioritizes low-performing schools and embeds direct classroom support to help teachers implement new legal requirements for instruction.