Oregon’s Early Literacy Framework: A Strong Foundation for Readers and Writers (K-5)

Oregon’s Early Literacy Framework builds momentum and capacity for strengthening belonging and literacy instruction in every elementary classroom so that all children leave elementary school proficient in reading and writing in one or more languages. It speaks to the comprehensive nature of literacy instruction and at its core, is designed to be used as a primary resource (or mentor text) for district leaders and school leaders. The framework is designed around eight sections that work in reciprocity with one another to help reinforce culturally responsive practice and reading science as fundamental to children’s literacy and biliteracy development.

Deepen your understanding of Oregon's Early Literacy Framework by exploring the following ready-to-use resources and professional learning opportunities for educators.

Early literacy leaders and educators can use this playbook to strengthen and monitor literacy development in their school or system, whether building the essential implementation practices from scratch or tuning up what they already have in place.

In 2023, the Oregon Legislature, with leadership from Governor Kotek, passed the Early Literacy Success Initiative. This initiative establishes four programs: the Early Literacy Success School District Grants, the Early Literacy Success Community Grants, Early Literacy Success Tribal Grants, and the Birth through Five Literacy Plan.

Oregon’s most recent English Language Arts and Literacy standards were adopted in 2019. These standards are grounded in research and align with the science of reading. They set the expectations for classroom teaching outcomes.

The State Board of Education approved the latest English Language Proficiency standards in October 2013. The English Language Proficiency Standards highlight and amplify the critical language, knowledge about language, and skills using language that are necessary for multilingual learners to be successful in schools.

The Oregon Department of Education and the Early Learning Division leadership created a statewide workgroup to align Oregon’s early learning and kindergarten standards. Developing clear and consistent expectations for what children should know and be able to do as they transition from early learning into kindergarten is foundational to improving children’s transition from early learning settings into kindergarten and ultimately invigorating K–3 instruction to ensure that 95 percent of children read proficiently by the end of grade 3.

Oregon’s dyslexia legislation outlines two main requirements for school districts: universal screening to identify students with risk factors of dyslexia and training at least one teacher in each K-5 school in content in the following three areas: 

1. Using evidence‐based practices to systematically and explicitly teach the foundational skills in reading; 
2. Understanding and recognizing dyslexia; and, 
3.  Intensifying instruction to meet the needs of students with severe reading difficulties, including dyslexia

Oregon Association of School Libraries School Library Standards were updated in 2019, including strands for information literacy, reading engagement, and social responsibility. Additionally, the standards include grade-level learning goals for grades K through 14.

The State Board of Education adopted the English Language Arts and English Language Proficiency approved Instructional Materials list in October of 2021. The list includes core basal materials for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.