Alabama Senate passes ban on ‘three-cueing’ method of reading instruction

By: Anna Barrett

Outlets: Alabama Reflector

Published: January 23, 2026

Words: 326

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 6 days ago

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The Alabama Senate passed a bill Thursday morning that bans the use of an education strategy known as the three-cueing system.

SB 168, sponsored by Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, codifies the Alabama State Board of Education’s May 2024 ban of the method. Three-cueing is a teaching strategy affiliated with “balanced literacy,” a compromise between whole language and phonics-based instruction that became prominent in the 1990s, according to the Hechinger Report.

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