Instructional Implementation Teams for the Science of Reading
During his final State of the State Address March 10, 2026, Governor Mike DeWine directed the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to create Instructional Implementation Teams for the Science of Reading. In response to Governor DeWine’s directive, regional Instructional Implementation Teams have been established to support Ohio building principals, and district leaders to improve implementation of effective literacy instruction, use of high-quality instructional materials, and establish systems that support every student’s learning.
The Instructional Implementation Team program is a partnership between the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, State Support Team (SSTs), and Educational Service Centers (ESCs).
Instructional Implementation Teams will use common tools and processes developed by the Department to guide learning walks and collaborate with teachers, principals, district leaders and sponsors to strengthen literacy instruction for all learners K-5.
These teams operate within a statewide system designed around six core objectives. Each objective represents a critical lever ensuring statewide improvement in instructional practice and system coherence. The objectives include the following:
- Ensure statewide coherence and quality of support. Schools across Ohio should have access to consistent, high-quality implementation support.
- Strengthen instructional leadership. Leaders need a shared understanding of what high-quality literacy instruction looks like and how to support it.
- Deploy a reliable, scalable measurement. The Learning Walk Tool for Literacy provides a common framework for collecting evidence across classrooms, schools, and regions. This data can support instructional and systems improvements from the classroom to the state level.
- Unify statewide professional learning and implementation supports. Learning walk data points to professional learning needs. It helps focus and align coaching, training, and other supports.
- Ensure reliable data collection. Consistent scoring across Instructional Implementation Team members is essential so that schools, districts, and the state can trust and use the data effectively. Learning walks are not about evaluating individual educators. Instead, the aggregated data will give valuable insight into what works well and what needs improvement at the systems level.
- Strengthen school-level instructional practice. Ultimately, the purpose of this work is to improve literacy instruction and student outcomes for all learners by improving the systems that support instruction.
What Do Instructional Implementation Teams Do and How Do They Help?
Instructional Implementation Teams work with school leaders to provide brief, non-evaluative learning walks using the Department’s Learning Walk Tool for Literacy. Learning walks will focus on grades K-5 core instruction for literacy. Implementation Teams will collaborate with principals, district, and school sponsor leaders to ensure that learning walks are focused on building wide access to grade level high-quality instructional materials, ensure that teachers are equipped to use them effectively, and use the data to focus ongoing support to ensure the delivery of instruction aligned to the science of reading.
The learning walks are intended to:
- Identify building-wide effective literacy practices;
- Support the implementation of high quality instructional materials;
- Guide informed decision-making; and
- Provide content for continuous improvement across Ohio's literacy system.
Learning walks are entirely separate from teacher evaluations, and no individual teacher level data will be collected, shared, or factored into the learning walk process. The data will be aggregated and used ONLY to inform building implementation improvements.
The outcomes of the learning walks help identify what is going well in ensuring positive outcomes for all students and guide the identification of professional support that would bolster implementation success by using data-based decision-making and team-based problem solving.
Learning Walk Tool for Literacy
About the Instructional Implementation Team Members
Members of the regional Instructional Implementation Teams work collaboratively with school leaders to connect the needs of teachers to school, district, regional, and state improvement efforts. All team members on the Instructional Implementation Teams have training in the Science in Reading.
There are five Regional Instructional Implementation Coordinators who play a pivotal role in coordinating, organizing, and supporting the work of the Instructional Implementation Teams within designated regions. The coordinators will provide coordination, organization, and support to the Instructional Implementation Teams through learning walks and data collection.
What Schools Can Receive Support from an Instructional Implementation Team?
- K-5 schools who are federally identified as Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools will receive support from regional Instructional Implementation Teams and their State Support Team.
- K-5 schools who have low performance on the Early Literacy Component of the State Report card are eligible for support from Instructional Implementation Teams and an Educational Service Center partner.
- Any K-5 school can request a Learning Walk by submitting a request by October 31, 2026.
Questions
Questions?
ImplementationTeams@education.ohio.gov
Last Modified: 9/4/2026 9:06:50 AM